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Post by Hime Idol on Feb 18, 2017 15:45:52 GMT -12
Title: Mother's Love
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A/N: This turned out way more fluffy than I even intended. Well that's what happens when you don't write for nearly 9-10 months.
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Hanako could just barely hear her voice, softly singing words she couldn't quite understand through the haze clouding her mind. She shivered as the fever sent another chill down her spine. She felt a hand gently rubbing the top of her head. That voice, she knew that voice…
"Kaa-chan?" the six-year-old muttered. She tried to focus her eyes but ultimately closed them due to fatigue.
Her mother stopped rubbing the top of her head and laid her hand on her cheek.
"Kaa-chan," she repeated.
"It's okay," her mother's voice sounded so far away. "Kaa-chan's right here. I'm not going anywhere."
Hanako felt a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"Go to sleep, Hana-chan. You'll be okay."
Hanako shortly drifted off to the sound of her mother's voice, gently singing her to sleep.
When she woke during the middle of the night, her skin was covered in sweat. Her whole body still ached but her fever had gone down it seemed. She turned her head and saw Chihaya laying besides her. Hanako yawned before snuggling up against her mother.
"Do you feel better Hana-chan?" She had apparently woken Chihaya up.
"Cause of Kaa-chan," she replied quietly as she slowly nodded.
"Good." Despite the burning sensation starting in her own throat, Chihaya lightly smiled. "Now go back to sleep Hana-chan. You'll feel better, the more you sleep."
"Love you," Hanako mumbled as she fell sleep.
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Post by Hime Idol on Feb 18, 2017 15:46:01 GMT -12
Title: Absence
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Chihaya sighed as she leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms over her head. She turned her attention back to the laptop in front of her, completely unaware of the presence of another person entering the room.
"Chi-chan, what are you doing?" Came the question as a pair of arms hugged her from behind.
Chihaya remained unfazed as she replied deadpan, "Ritsuko-san sent me the schedule for the next three months and asked me to look over it. She needs to know if there's any conflicting dates or any concerns over the venues or interviews."
"You're always working and going off to places Chi-chan. Couldn't you tell Ritsuko-chan to lighten up your schedule? Yuuta and Hanako would like to see their mother a bit more."
"Keito-kun, that's unprofessional to cancel events like that," she said, now directing her attention from the screen to him. "You know that. It's not like you're exactly on the light side with work either."
Keito knew she was right. As a publicist he had a number of clients, including Chihaya, that he was looking after. There were times he pulled long nights and was absent as well.
He sighed, "Point taken, but at least I ask for time off. The last time you even asked was when you were pregnant with Yuuta. And you only did so because the doctor said you had to."
"I couldn't stay on a prolonged maternity leave like I did with Hanako. I had to get back on stage. I almost lost my career staying out that long the first time," she frowned. "It's not like I do this on purpose. I love them and they know that."
"Knowing you love them and actually physically being there is two different things Chihaya," Keito replied a bit more forcefully. Chihaya could tell his patience with her was beginning to wane. "They want to see their mother in person instead of having to read an article in a magazine or watching a TV interview to see how she is."
"I have to get back to work."
"Oh come on Chihaya, just listen to me."
"I've told you I have dates I have to look over."
"Get the schedule done tomorrow."
"Keito, I can't do that."
Keito sighed as Chihaya continued to look at the laptop's screen. He wasn't even sure if she truly was looking over the schedule at this point or purposely ignoring him. He was used to this though. He knew the uphill battles he would have to fight when they began dating. He had just become an intern at the same record company she had just debuted with as a professional singer all those years ago. Neither one of them had dated before and their relationship was very awkward in the beginning. Keito had learned he needed extreme patience when dealing with her, even after they got married he still needed it. Even though he loved her, Chihaya still wasn't the easiest person to live with. Often times she was too immersed in her career as a singer to pay attention to anyone or thing else. That included their two children and she genuinely didn't seem to realize this. Keito could deal with not having Chihaya there 100% of the time but he felt it was unfair to their daughter and son to rarely have their mother's full attention. And it wasn't like she was bad mother; Keito would be to first to say when she was actually present that she was a very good mother. This fact was being largely overshadowed by her lack of attendance.
"Do you have anything scheduled on the 25th for next month?" He asked.
Chihaya remained silent for a moment before responding, "Yes, I have a dress rehearsal for the live that's two days afterwards."
"Do you even know what month you're looking at?" He asked her bit scathingly.
Chihaya's frowned deepened and she looked over at her husband to send him a warning glare. "I'm looking at the month of August."
"And nothing strikes you about that date? You'd think Ritsuko-chan would even realize it being such an attentive manager," Keito sarcastically added. Chihaya remained silent. "It's your daughter's birthday. She also has a live next week she would like her mother to attend for once."
Hanako's decision to become an idol wasn't something Chihaya could say she was proud of. Both Chihaya and Keito knew Hanako revered her mother's music career highly and wanted to emulate her mother by becoming an idol. Though Chihaya wouldn't openly admit it, she knew her daughter had no business being on stage. Sure she was a very good dancer but outside of that the fifteen-year-old had absolutely no singing talent...or at least comparable talent to Chihaya's. The girl's career had been very stagnate from the beginning, not helped by Hanako's refusal to take any job that she didn't deem cute enough. Outside of group activities, Hanako didn't have a solo career that could amount to anything. It was more nonexistent than anything else.
"Isn't Takane-san going to be there?" Chihaya asked. "She can tell me how the live went."
"That's not the same as being there Chihaya. At least Takane-san is going to be there for her daughter. I wish I could say the same for you," he stated. "I'm sure Ritsuko-chan can change your schedule around a bit."
"That's too last minute."
Keito sighed and shook his head in defeat. She just wasn't going to budge. "One day you're going to wake up Chi-chan and realize everything you've missed out on. I have the tolerance to put up with you not being around but Hanako and Yuuta might not. Eventually they might just decide to push you away and you'll have no one to blame but yourself."
Chihaya silently watched as he left the room before returning her focus back on the screen before her.
"Ku..." she scowled.
She loved her kids; in her own eyes she saw herself as a good mother. Maybe she was a bit busy every once in a while but she always thought of them. Despite that busy work schedule she tried her hardest to fit in time with them. Maybe it wasn't as much time as she would have liked but she at least made an effort.
This was her dream after all, she worked her hardest to make it as a professional singer. She had to juggle the struggles of being a mother on top of being a national celebrity. Keito couldn't possibly understand this. He had always been behind the scenes as a publicist and never in the limelight like she was.
The only one that somewhat understood was Takane. She was the only one from 765Pro, whom Chihaya was still in contact with, that had also tried to go professional. Though Takane had ended her career to have her daughter, she still understood the struggle Chihaya went through to actually make it. Besides Takane the only other person Chihaya knew who went on to a professional career was Miki. Trying to get in touch with the flighty actress proved to be a challenge and Chihaya ultimately gave up on it. Haruka and Azusa proved to be sympathetic ears but were no more than that.
But there was always one person that always listened and seemed to understand everything and always had the answers she needed.
Chihaya sighed once and reached for the cellphone that was sitting on the table. Scrolling through the contacts, Chihaya paused for a moment before letting it dial.
"Hey, it's me, how are you?" Chihaya asked and there was a pause for a moment. "Yeah, we're all fine here. I was just wondering if you were doing anything tomorrow afternoon and wanted to meet for lunch?" A few seconds later she replied, "Perfect, I'll be over then. See you then, Okaa-san."
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Post by Hime Idol on Jun 8, 2017 18:12:44 GMT -12
Title: Mood Swings
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Minami nervously walked backwards as her sister angrily stomped towards her. Feeling her back press up against the wall, Minami felt an involuntary shudder run down her spine.
To say Minami was completely done with Takane's pregnancy was an understatement. She couldn't wait for the baby to just be born already and for the madness to finally end. The older woman was always a quirky individual in her own way. She always had habits that annoyed Minami but those habits seemed to evolve to a point where Minami could no longer tolerate them as easily. Now that Takane was pregnant, her hormones were all over the place and it was as though Minami was dealing with a different person entirely. Takane proved to be extremely demanding, emotional, overly energetic, emotional, very whiny, emotional, and eternally starving in the most dramatic of ways. She was also emotional. Very emotional.
And though Minami had educated herself and knew what to expect from the pregnancy, she would never have been able to anticipate just how terrible Takane's rampant mood swings would end up being.
Until now there had only seemed to be two degrees to Takane's hormone-fueled mood swings. The first was a euphoric mood Takane would get. She would act like the happiest person on the face of the earth. The second was an extremely depressed mood. Takane wouldn't even get out of bed and would go into episodes of sobbing. Minami would gladly take either of them over this enraged, berserker mood that had just surfaced.
Needless to say, it was incredibly difficult to keep up with her moods on most days.
Two months. Minami told herself. Only two months and this madness will be over.
"How dare you criticize my weight! What exactly did you think was going to happen?" Takane seethingly asked as she was mere centimeters apart from her sister.
Besides the random mood swings, Minami never saw her sister without food on her...normally junk food. Unfortunately, Minami decided to comment on this fact and suggested that her sister watch what she ate; bringing up the fact that she mostly ate fatty foods. This turned out to be a big mistake on her part.
"That's not what I meant at all. Nee-san, I was just simply suggesting that you should think about what you’re putting in your mouth. You mostly eat junk. Remember you're the one who wanted me to watch over you in the first place."
Takane took a step back but continued to glare at her younger sister. “Are you saying that I’m incapable of taking care of myself? I am not some invalid that cannot care for herself. I know what to eat and what not to eat. Sure I give in every once in a while to cravings but that is beside the point.”
Minami sighed. “Nee-san you’re blowing this out of portion.”
“So now I’m being irrational?” Takane angrily asked her.
“I didn’t say that either,” Minami muttered as she then groaned in frustration. Though Minami couldn’t blame her entirely for lashing out. She was certain that Takane had a lot of pent up anger in her; especially due to all of the problems Takane had caused for herself in the past few years that led to this. And despite everything he had done to her, Minami never once heard Takane talk badly of Haruto. Takane was probably more frustrated with herself than anyone else at this point. With no one else to take out her building frustration out on, Minami became the proverbial punching bag for her verbal assault.
Sighing once again, Minami moved before Takane could protest and hugged her. She felt her sister tense up. “Ne-neesan, calm down. Please?”
That seemed to do the trick as Takane’s body relaxed, her anger instantly washing away. "I'm sorry Mina-nee. I don't know what came over me.” Minami then felt Takane’s arms wrap around her as she began crying.
“Geez, you really are a big crybaby. You know that Takane?”
“I am not!” She whined.
“You are too,” Minami retorted as her sister finally let go of her. She then heard a rumbling sound. “How are you hungry? You just ate fifteen minutes ago!”
Takane chuckled. “That was only a snack.”
“Snack?” Minami repeated. “That was an entire meal if not more.”
“For you maybe.” Takane pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I’d like to see you go through this.”
“I’ll pass,” Minami stated. “Hey, I heard there’s a new restaurant that opened. It has a buffet, if you want do you-”
“Let’s go,” Takane stated as she stood by the front door with her coat already on.
“How did you get there so fast?” Minami questioned her as Takane opened the door.
“That does not matter. Let’s go,” Takane replied as she walked out with pure determination exuding from her.
Minami sighed. “I think I liked it better when you were angry.”
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Post by Hime Idol on Aug 1, 2017 15:05:29 GMT -12
Title: Cookies
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Sakura liked to help her mother bake. She liked the smells wafting throughout the apartment and foremost the food they ate afterwards. Sakura loved it all and most of all she just loved spending the time with her mother.
Sakura also liked the wintertime. Actually, she liked it quite a lot. She loved watching the first snowflakes fall since that meant she would go out to play in the snow with her mother.
She also loved the holidays that came in the winter. Christmas was always nice. Christmas meant baking and baking meant cookies and cookies meant eating. In Sakura’s six-year-old mind nothing was better than baking and especially eating whatever was baked.
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"Kaa-chan." Sakura tugged at her mother’s sweater. "I get to help, right?” She eagerly awaited her mother's reply as she peered over the counter to see the ingredients and baking utensils laid out.
Takane knelt down in front of her. “Of course, Kura-chan is Kaa-chan’s special helper after all.” Picking Sakura up and setting her down on the chair positioned against the counter, Takane asked her, "Do you remember what we made last Christmas?"
Sakura nodded. “We made star cookies that had pretty, sparkly sprinkles and Christmas tree ones, oh and ones that sorta looked like birds and flowers. Then Mina-baachan got mad cause we ate most of them before she came over.”
“Of course you would remember that part,” Takane murmured. “Anyway, which cookie was your favorite?”
"Um…" Sakura looked at each cookie cutter as she picked up each one to inspect them individually. She then held up the star-shaped cutter for her mother to see. “This one, stars are shiny and pretty.”
"This one is my favorite," Takane held up a flower-shaped one. “It’s small and cute. Just like my little cherry blossom1." She tapped her on the nose with her finger, causing the little girl to giggle. "Now then, we better get started.”
Sakura watched as Takane measured out the sugar, poured it in a large bowl, and then placed the presliced pieces of butter also in the bowl. Takane then slid the bowl in front of Sakura and handed her a wooden spoon.
Placing her hand over Sakura’s, Takane helped her cream together the sugar and butter. “It needs to be smooth before we can mix in the eggs and vanilla. Then we add the flour, baking soda, and salt. What comes after that Kura-chan?”
“We bake and eat them!” She enthusiastically answered.
Takane chuckled. “Not quite Kura-chan. We have to first roll the dough flat before cutting it out with the cookie cutters. After that we add the sprinkles and then bake them. Once they’re done baking they have to cool down before we can eat them.”
Sakura tilted her head backwards to look up at her mother and pouted. “Why does it have to take so long? I just wanna eat them already.”
Takane bent over slightly and kissed her forehead. "Patience Kura-chan, everything takes hard work. You need to work and put in time for the things you want.”
“Okay.” Sakura turned her attention back to the bowl in front of her and sighed. "Hey Kaa-chan, is Biki-baachan coming over for Christmas like last year?”
Takane moved the bowl down a ways on the counter and began adding the eggs and vanilla to it. "Unfortunately Hibiki can’t. She’s spending the holidays with her family this year.” Sakura frowned. “But she said she’ll try to make it up here sometime after the holidays are over. Mina-neechan is coming over again.”
Sakura looked at her mother and pouted. “Really? Can’t Mina-baachan not come over? She always scolds us.”
“Sakura that’s rude,” Takane said in a stern tone. “Minami is family. Family is the most important thing you can have in life; no matter if you get along or not. You can always count on your family during hard times when no one else is there for you. Mina-neechan only scolds us because she cares about us. That’s how she shows it.”
“But she’s always mean. She says mean stuff to you. I don’t like it,” Sakura muttered.
Takane sighed as she pushed up her glasses slightly with her finger. “Kaa-chan isn’t the smartest person at times. Mina-neechan says what she does to keep me on track.”
“That’s not true! You're the smartest!” Sakura argued as she stomped her foot down. “You know everything! Any time I ask you something you always have an answer.”
Takane gave her a small smile. “I may know a lot of things Sakura but I don’t have a lot of commonsense sometimes and make poor decisions. As Mina-neechan put it, I can behave oddly at times.”
“Do I act weird too?” Sakura asked her. "Is that why Mina-baachan scolds me too?"
Takane stopped mixing the batter and turned towards her daughter. She then patted Sakura on the head. “Absolutely not. Besides a few of my habits I wish you hadn’t picked up, you’re my perfect, little Kura-chan.”
"Really?"
Takane nodded as she went back to mixing the batter. "Really."
"Oh yeah, are we gonna see Hanako-chan and Chiya-baachan?" Sakura asked as if suddenly remembering.
"That I don't know. I haven't spoken to Chihaya yet. I know she has two lives the week of Christmas so probably the week after we'll see them."
"Oh," Sakura nodded lightly but it was evident that she was disappointed. "What about Zuzu-baachan?"
Takane chuckled. "What's with all the questions suddenly? Azusa said maybe, if they can, they'll come over Christmas Eve. Oh that's right I didn't tell you yet. A few days ago Azusa found out she's going to have a baby."
"Really? Taiki-kun and Momoka-chan, are going to have another brother or sister?" Sakura asked as Takane nodded. "Why can’t I have one? Kaa-chan, could you go have a baby so I can have a little brother or sister?"
Takane blushed. "Th-that's not how it works Kura-chan."
"Then how does it work? How do you have a baby?" Sakura innocently asked her. “It can’t be that hard to have one. What do you have to do? Is it easy or hard?"
If even possible, Takane's face became even more flushed. "You…you don’t need to know about that yet!"
"But I want a little brother or sister."
Takane suddenly thrust the rolling pin into Sakura’s hands. "We need to roll out the dough."
"But what about-"
"We're going to roll out the dough," Takane cut her off, hoping to sidetrack her. "Then we'll cut it out with the cutters."
"But…" Sakura sighed in defeat. "Fine."
Sakura did as she was told, with Takane placing her hands over hers to help her press down on the rolling pin.
Once the dough was flattened, Takane laid the cookie cutters out in front of them. "Alright, you need to make sure you really push down hard Kura-chan. The cookie cutter has to go through the dough all the way." Takane pressed a cookie cutter against the dough and pushed down to demonstrate for the young girl. "Once you see the shape in the dough, you pick up the cookie cutter and peel off the cookie, and place it on the baking sheet." Takane explained as she lowered the first unbaked cookie onto the metal sheet.
"Now place the cookie cutter on the dough," Takane instructed.
"Like this?" Sakura asked, pressing down on the cookie cutter.
"Perfect." Takane nodded as Sakura picked up the star shape, handing the cut out dough to her mother.
The duo continued the pattern until the baking sheets were filled with cookies.
"What's next?" Sakura asked expectantly as she watched her mother put the sparkly sprinkles she liked so much on a few of the cookies.
Takane carefully picked up the metal sheet and placed it in the oven. "We let the cookies bake in the oven now."
"And then we eat them?" Sakura asked eagerly as her mouth practically watered at the thought.
"Of course," Takane laughed as she patted her on the head. "That's the last part."
"It's the best part!" Sakura insisted. Her face quickly fell. "What do I do while the cookies bake?"
"Mmm…it is starting to get a bit late. Really you should have dinner first before you start eating cookies. You also need to take a bath before bed as well."
Sakura pouted. "I don't wanna take a bath."
"You need to Sakura. Besides." Takane picked her up and held her. "How can my little Kura-chan stay cute if she's dirty?"
"I'll take a bath only if Kaa-chan gets in with me. We can play like last time. Pretty please Kaa-chan? It was really fun."
Takane sighed as she gave the girl a small smile. "Fine, we'll have dinner first and then take a bath together. But you can't have any cookies until you're done with your bath. Deal?"
Sakura nodded. "Yeah!"
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"You two did it again!" Minami hollered. "I would have thought you would have learned from last year!"
Sakura pouted as she whispered to her mother. "We shouldn't of ate those cookies after our bath. Huh Kaa-chan?"
Takane chuckled lightly. "We may have over done it a bit. We did eat more than half of them all at once."
"Stop talking! I can't believe I have to scold you," Minami stated as she glared Takane down. "I can see Sakura doing this, she's a child. You're an adult Takane. You need to act like one for once. I shouldn't have to scold you like a child. You're her mother, not her friend. You should be setting a better example for her."
Sakura frowned. "Told you Mina-baachan is mean."
Takane frowned as well. "Mina-nee is being mean. It's only cookies. I say we eat the rest of them."
Sakura nodded. "When she's not looking."
"Are you two paying attention?" The two jumped at her tone. "I can hear you, you know? I'm going to throw those cookies right out if you even try that."
Both Takane and Sakura gasped horror. "No!" The two exclaimed.
"But I wanna eat them!" Sakura whined.
"Mina-nee, don't," Takane whined as well.
"Whining will get you nowhere," Minami stated as she huffed and turned her head away. She then felt a light tug on her shirt. Looking down, Minami was met with the large, sad eyes of her niece. Minami gasped and stammered, "Don't…..don't g-give me t-that look."
Takane lightly nodded and quietly said, "That's it Kura-chan." Taking her phone out, Takane quickly snapped a picture of her daughter. "So cute…fufu~"
"Mina-baachan," Sakura started as she continued to look at her aunt with the best sad expression she could muster. "Me and Kaa-chan worked hard on the cookies. Could you pretty please not throw them out? It would make me really, really sad."
"I can be such a pushover." Minami muttered as she then sighed. "Fine you two can finish the cookies off later. Happy?"
The two hugged the younger woman.
"Thanks, Mina-baachan!" Sakura beamed at her.
"We'll let you eat some of them with us Mina-nee," Takane said to her.
"Honestly, you two are two peas in a pod," Minami grumbled as the two continued to hug her. She then smirked. "I guess you're my two gluttonous peas."
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1 Referred to as “cherry blossom” instead of “sakura” to avoid confuse between Sakura and the actual flower.
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