Kit and Kin

poetheather

Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravenscrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of. Just another day in Ravenscrest.

Chapter Three

January 18

The front door slammed shut with great force, shoes hastily kicked off clattered against the wall, and stocking feet ran up the stairs. From another room, his mother’s voice called out in surprise at the sudden and loud noise, “Takeshi? What are you doing home? Did school let out early?”

There was no answer to her question. Takeshi ran into his room and slammed his door behind him, not caring about the sound. He hurt so bad inside, his heart aching and tears still streaming down his face. He threw himself on the bed and landed face down on a pillow. With a massive scream he vented his frustrations, pounding the bed with his fists. The door opened softly, his mother nervously poking her head into the room, “Takeshi, are you okay sweetie?”

He rolled over and sat up, looking at his mother, who was clearly concerned. The burning salt trails of tears were still trickling down his face red wind chapped face and words failed him as he tried to reply, his mouth opening and closing a few times impotently. There was nothing he could say to explain the enormity of his heart ache. His eyes locked with hers and all of his pain rushed out in a new wave of tears.

She rushed over and hugged him tight, pulling his head to her shoulder, brushing a hand down the back of his head, rocking him ever so slightly. “Ssshhh baby, it will be all right. What ever happened, it will be all right. I’m here and I’ve got you. You’re safe. Mommas got you.”

Relaxing into her arms, Takeshi let himself cry out, the emotion draining out over fifteen minutes of tears and sobs shaking him. He felt safe here at home in a way he could never outside of this house. Outside the world was against them, inside they were a team. His mother was able to gently move him so she could climb onto the bed to better pull him into her lap, making it more comfortable for the both of them. She just made soothing noises, rubbing his back and the back of his head, doing her best to comfort him and to ensure that he knew he was in a safe space while he let out all of his pain and sorrow.

When he finally got himself under control, his breath less gasps and more inhalations, fewer sobs but more sighs, she turned his head up and kissed him on the forehead, saying softly and non-judgmentally, “Feel a little better.”

He nodded weakly. He felt drained. He felt worse than he did on the occasions when his haha worked him for four hours straight at some crazy and nearly impossible martial arts skill that had his body trembling in exhaustion and his body covered in sweat.

“Think you can talk about what upset you?” she asked gently.

He nodded again, not wanting to think about it but knowing that she deserved to know.

His mother just waited, patiently, giving him his time and space to find the words he needed on his own. Takeshi, just lay there in his mother’s arms, comfortable and secure before he sighed. He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position and turned so he faced her. “I had a really bad day.”

With a grin, she reached out with one finger and tapped his nose playfully, “I kind of figured that one out on my own Take, duh!”

Blushing, Takeshi stuck his tongue out at his mother and continued, “The day was like any other, you know, I got bullied some by some of the jocks and dumped in the trash. Again.”

His mother growled, which was a rather feral sound, before saying, “You know I am not a fan of this side of the damn training regime.”

“I know Mom, and you bring it up all the time something like this goes a little too far. But that isn’t what upset me. It was just the same stupid stuff they pull as usual. No hits, nothing like that.” Takeshi had his hands up trying to calm his mother down. She was really protective of him and had already had words with Mr. McC a few times already this year and it was only the eighteenth. Their… conversations had been audible from outside the room, at least most of them had. The two of them always seemed to snarl at each other like a couple of very irritated dogs or something and there was no way he wanted to be in the room with them. At least Mr. McC treated his politely because of it.

“Okay… so what has you so massively wound up that you clearly ran home from school early this incredibly upset?” she asked, her hackles clearly raised.

“Well, you see… there’s this girl I like…” started Takeshi, sort of hemming and hawing his way around the issue.

“You mean the girl from the movie theater?” asked his mother, as if this was supposed to be some sort of State secret.

“Mom!” Takeshi was rather shocked. He had thought he had been so careful when he had been around Dana, to avoid giving himself away.

“What? Honestly Takeshi… you are always mooning over her when we go to see something, giving her these big soulful eyes. It is clear to everyone that you are in love with her. I mean, how could anyone miss it, with how obvious you have been. Your mom and I have been talking about that.”

“You have?” Takeshi sounded horrified. This was worse than he had thought. He had thought he had been so circumspect, so stealthy, and so smooth. If he had failed this badly then the fallout from the poem was going to be so much worse. He groaned in pain.

“Tadaima!” The voice called out from downstairs.

“Okaeri! We’re up here love!” called out his mother, sounding a bit on the cheerful side. Takeshi groaned a little bit more as he knew that his embarrassment would only deepen as would his shame.

Rather quickly his kasa entered the room looking concerned, taking in the scene with a quick glance. “What’s up?”

“We haven’t gotten there yet. But our son ran home really upset, ran up here crying and I held him as he cried for over fifteen minutes. He was bullied again because of that stupid training thing.” She growled out.

“Mom…” complained Takeshi feebly.

“Alright… I know I told you both I would stay out of it. Sorry love. I just don’t like seeing our boy getting hurt because of a choice.”

His kasa rested a hand on his mother’s arm and it seemed as if his mother’s hackles settled instantly. A new person took over the interrogation. “So, if the bullying was not what upset you what did?”

“It has to do with the girl he likes.” chimed in his mother.

“The girl from the cinema?” asked his kasa.

Takeshi blushed a bright red and buried his face in a pillow. He was hugged from both sides by his mothers, who were making awwww noises which only succeeded in making his face burn brighter but his pain did actually hurt a little less oddly enough.

His kasa then asked, “So what happened with Cinema girl that got you this upset?”

“I… uh… I was watching her in… class and I… I wrote a poem… about her.” It was difficult to admit this to his parents and very embarrassing.

His kasa rubbed his back. “It’s okay Takeshi. We were young once as well. I know I wrote poems about girls I was interested in as well while I was supposed to be paying attention in class. This is not a bad thing.”

“That happened to me more than once. It’s a part of growing up.” commented his mom. “Being a teenager is hard. You have crazy feelings and hormones all tangling up your brain making you just a fountain of madness. That’s puberty for you.”

“Yeah, but did anybody grab your poem and read it out loud in class?” Takeshi sounded really hurt and bitter when he said this. The rawness of his emotions was plain in his words.

Both women flinched and moved as one to hug him, each kissing him on the cheek in comfort. They clearly understood what he was talking about and empathized with him. “I am so sorry baby. That is so terrible. No wonder you ran home. Oh my Goddess! That is just… what a betrayal of trust.”

“My sweet Takeshi… I would never wish for such a thing to have happened to you.” his kasa was tearing up, sniffling.

“It’s okay moms, I just… I can never can go back to school again. The bullies will have a field day with me. After that poem and now, everyone knowing how I feel about Dana… they would just kill me. And Dana… oh Gods Dana… I could never look her in the eye again. She must hate me.” rambled Takeshi, his worries coming out in a torrent, all jangled up with his emotions.

“Sshhh… it’s okay Takeshi. I am sure she doesn’t hate you. She is probably just as embarrassed as you are over this whole misadventure but this is not something you need to abandon school over.” his kasa ran a hand down his back soothingly. “As for abandoning school… do you remember back in sixth grade, when you started the role of geek, I told you that you would have to keep this up until you got older?”

Takeshi looked over at his haha a bit confused as to how this change of topic could help his with his heartbreak and sorrow. He nodded, barely remembering that conversation.

“If you recall, I told you then that everything would change on your sixteenth birthday.”

Takeshi froze and blinked a few dozen times as he tried to process what he had just heard. Things got to change? On his birthday? “Wait… what?”

“Is your birthday not a day away?” she asked patiently, waiting for him to make the connection.

“Uh… uh…”

His mothers began to giggle as their son’s reality clearly spun under this. He kept blinking as his brain was trying to hard reboot, as the stress of too many stressors in one day were taking their toll.

“What does this mean?” Takeshi asked, somewhat unsure of everything as this did not seem to compute with anything that made sense in his world.

With a broad smile, his kasa said as she patted his leg, “This means that you would be able to change roles among other things. We have to talk to your Sousobo to be sure, but after your birthday lots of things get to change. I am hoping that most will be for the better.”

Takeshi smiled weakly, as this was somewhat good news though he was not exactly sure how it could be good news yet. “That might be a good thing. But I don’t know what to do about Dana or anything. It hurts.”

“Why don’t we get something special to eat, watch one of your favorite movies and have some ice cream.” offered his mother.

“God mom… I’m not a girl.” complained Takeshi, but without much heat. This was a somewhat familiar and playful teasing.

“But it sounds good right now, doesn’t it?” she asked knowingly.

With a slight blush Takeshi murmured, “Yes, it does.”

His mothers chuckled, leaned in and hugged him again. “So what did you want to eat?”

“Maybe some Chinese?” he asked shyly, a bit unsure what to say.

“Sure Take, want your usual or something different?” asked his mother.

“Mushu pork please. That sounds better than Moo Goo Gai Pan right now.” He asked in a tiny, almost childlike voice. It was clear that he needed comfort right now.

His kasa hugged him and kissed his forehead, “Of course love, anything for you. You really did have a no good very bad day. We’ll get you anything you want. Want some eggrolls as well or maybe Summer Rolls?”

“Summer Rolls.”

Sliding off the bed, his mother patted his leg and headed downstairs to call in the order. Still hugging him tightly, his haha rested her cheek on the top of his head, “Hopefully things will be better for you after tomorrow love.”

“You think so haha?”

“Absolutely. Turning sixteen is a magical time. You never know what can happen when that occurs. Your whole world can change when that happens, so who knows… maybe this might just fix things with Cinema girl.”

“Her name is Dana.” insisted Takeshi.

“Very well then… Dana. You never know Takeshi what the future brings. Shall we head downstairs and maybe have some tea?” Her smile was soft and it made him feel a little bit better.

His kasa stood and helped pull him from the bed. They headed downstairs where his mom was still talking to the people at Hui Piao Bo the only Chinese restaurant and delivery place in town, making sure that the order was correct. The food was good, but depending on whom you talked to the English skills varied. She smiled at everyone and after she paid, hung up.

Takeshi and kasa were in the kitchen getting things ready for tea. She came up and asked him, “So what do you want to watch as your feel better movie? Miyazaki or something else?”

He nodded his head and said, “Spirited Away. That starts off insane and hopeless and ends up so cheerful. I could use that.”

“Okay. I like that film and it’s not too squeaky.” She went in to get the film started as he got the mugs on the tray. At the same time his kasa was getting the water and the green tea ready in the tea pot. Once he had that task completed his kasa said over her shoulder, “Go on into the other room, I’ll be in once the water’s ready.”

Takeshi did not wait to be told twice and went straight for the family room, where he claimed his usual spot at one end of the couch, folding his legs under him. His mother was cuing up the film, perched in her own spot on the other end while she worked the remote. She cut her eyes over and asked, “So Take, feeling any better?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. This is just so much to deal with. I mean, this really hurts Mom and I think I am going to have a lot of trouble at school because of this, regardless of what sort of cool things might happen at my birthday tomorrow.”

“We’ll see. After this weekend, if we can get that damn geek target off your back maybe we can fix this thing. After all, nothing is impossible.”

“I hope so mom.” Takeshi sighed and sunk a bit deeper into the couch, leaning heavily backwards.

“It will be okay, you’ll see love. Besides, we’re celebrating your birthday tomorrow, so how bad can that be? That means we can start thinking about you getting a car.”

“That would be nice. Oh… Why are we going out to Hiiobbasan’s house for that? I thought I would be able to have a party with my friends.” There was a little bit of a whine to his voice.

She chuckled and said, “Apparently this is a big thing for your kasa’s family. You know my family doesn’t really talk to me much anymore but they also make a big deal out of things. Hell I had a big Sweet Sixteen party at my folks place out in the woods back in the Dark Ages. It’s not too bad and it was a nice party. They still didn’t know that I liked girls back then, so they tried to set me up with someone… gag. He was terrible. You do know we will never do that to you right? That we will never set you up with someone?”

“Yes mom.” Takeshi replied, with the tone of someone who had heard this a few dozen times before.

“We aren’t doing what to him?” asked his kasa as she came in carrying the tray with the tea service nicely arranged on it.

“Selling me down the river to some strange girl.” replied Takeshi tiredly.

“Hmmm… I wonder what Cinema Girl would pay for you? We might make some good money.” mused his haha.

Takeshi blushed and replied in a huff, “Her name is Dana!”

Both his mothers laughed.