Kapitel 303: Jerks
Izumi sighed, putting her arm around her elder sister's shoulder. "Hey, come on, Yui. Could ya at least try to smile?"
The blonde sighed, glaring at the bottle of root beer in her hand. "This is me trying, Iz. I feel like shit. My head hurts, my heart hurts, and all I want is for everybody to just leave me the fuck alone."
Mei shook her head emphatically. "As your roommate, I can vouch for the fact that the last thing you need right now is to be left alone. We're worried about you! And besides, you just want to be by yourself so there's nobody around to keep you out of the liquor cabinet."
"Yeah? Well, who made it any of your business anyway, Mei? I ain't right, and the best thing you guys can do is get the hell out of my face about it and go live your lives."
Yui growled, but before she could stand, Ukyo stood from her seat on the floor and blocked her. "Listen, Yui. I don't know you as well as your sisters do, but I know you're more resilient than this. Ran-chan's told me so many stories. To hear her talk, you're made of freakin' iron, just like your mom."
Yui sighed, slumping back onto the left side of Izumi's orange couch. "Exactly. I'm supposed to be the one telling all these clowns to act right. You've all got your own shit to deal with, and you're all hoverin' around me."
Mei rolled her eyes. "It's because we love you, dipshit. We miss you. You haven't been you in over a month, and… nothing's the same."
Ranko sighed, reaching up and placing her hand on Yui's knee through her elder sister's blue jeans. She was wearing a long, pastel pink dress with small matching bows in each of her loose pigtails, and she was currently seated in Akane's lap on the floor of Izumi's apartment.
Ranko had largely been avoiding the Phoenix, as every time she set foot in the place, she had been mobbed by well-meaning Firebirds wanting to know when she would return to the stage. She ached to be up there singing again, but ultimately, it was not Ranko, not her band, and not Hana who would make that determination, but an orthopedic specialist in Shibuya, and she had no idea what they would say. At her first appointment, the doctor had warned her that it was possible she would not perform again until the start of the tour, a fate that haunted Ranko to even consider. Besides starting the tour with no meaningful rehearsal, she would miss her last chances to perform for her local fans before a month away, plus her final opportunity to perform alongside the cheerleading squad she led. The possibility was unacceptable to her, but also all but entirely out of her hands to control. Between Akane, Shiori, Kumiko, Crash and Hana, an ironclad alliance had been formed with a singular focus on keeping her from pushing herself prematurely, however much she may have wanted to.
Between her absence at the bar her family owned, and her sisters' preoccupations with other matters, Ranko had not seen much of her sisters since her injury, and it had been killing her almost as much as the incessant throbbing of her left knee. Izumi and Ayako had little to no social lives owing to having young babies, and Mei had been fairly constantly engaged as a caretaker as well, trying her best to keep Yui upright and sober through her sorrows. With her mother holding the bar they all called home together with her two hands while her daughters all struggled, the result had been that Ranko had been without most of her family, relying on the constant parade of bandmates and friends that Akane had recruited to keep her company and look after her needs when Akane herself was at school or work.
The redhead waited until Yui looked down to make eye contact with her before speaking.
"You know, somebody super smart said something to me once that really stuck with me," Ranko began with a soft smile. "You're wanted. You have worth."
All four of the other Phoenix sisters, including the one who had joined the clan through marriage the previous July, finished the mantra aloud with Ranko. "And you have people who care about you."
The lithe blonde sneered darkly at her own words being used against her. She placed her empty glass root beer bottle on the end table to her right, not especially gently. "Yeah, well, if only certain people cared about me more than being the Vice President of Very Important Bullshit down in Fukuoka…"
Mei sighed. "Look, we know, Yui. You're hurting. We all loved Sakura. But, whether we agree with her choice or not, she's made it, and we gotta focus on the future now. Besides, you know there was some shit she did that annoyed the piss out of you. Try to focus on that. Like, when I was with Shin… ugh. Dude just insisted on leaving the seat up in the bathroom, all the time. I don't miss that!"
Yui managed a dark chuckle. "I live with you, Mei, remember? I don't miss it, either."
Izumi sighed, looking down into the lime-green playpen in the living room where her daughter was currently teething on an orange plastic ring. "I remember Sata – Hoshi's dad – used to call me sugar tits all the time. Drove me fucking nuts."
"Ew," Ayako reacted, her tongue stuck out of her mouth. "So nasty." She giggled at a bubbling sensation against her chest. "Jun thinks so too, apparently." She peeked under the shroud she had draped over her right arm, concealing her infant son as he nursed. "Don't ya, baby boy?"
Hoshi's mother nodded. I'm so glad Hoshi is being raised by a real man now - but now probably isn't the best time to bring up how good some of us have it in our relationships.
Ayako rolled her eyes. "Let's see… before Kage, there was Michi. Man, what a prick he was. You remember, Yui?"
Izumi nodded. "I remember him! He always had this weird smell. Like, garlic and gym shoes."
"Ew! Gross," Ukyo gagged.
The blonde sneered. "How could I forget? Most sexist piece of shit I think I've ever met for longer than it took to pour a drink, too. Tryin' to tell you that you couldn't go to college or anything, you had to stay home and get pregnant. What a total douche."
Ayako snickered; there was something ironic about Yui making the statement as she sat on the couch with a newborn nursing against her. "Yeah, he was kind of a pig. He even tried to talk down to my m… my adopted mom, one time." She cringed, and the other girls knew exactly why.
"You know, Aya, at some point you gotta let this shit with Mama go." Izumi sighed, wrapping her arms around her eldest sister. "She was doing what she thought was right. She fucked it up but good, but her heart was in the right place, sis. You know it was. Her heart doesn't know any other place to be. And she wants to hang out with you and Jun so bad."
Ayako toyed with her shoulder-length, rail-straight black hair, which she now knew she had inherited from her biological mother. "Yeah, I know. I'm almost there, I think. I just… All that time wondering, and the answer was right there. It's… a lot."
Ranko nodded, cuddling against Akane's shoulder in part to hide the shame in her eyes. She'd still shared with no one - not even Akane - that she alone among their number had long known the truth of Ayako's parentage. Once she'd warned Hana, and Hana had come clean to Ayako, there seemed little point in creating further drama within the Phoenix family with the revelation while so much was already going on.
The lone brunette of the Phoenix's six sisters nodded with a sigh. "I get it, Aya. It rocked all of us for a minute, too, not gonna lie. But Mama doesn't love any of us any different, and at the end of the day that's all that matters. She chose to be your mom when you needed her, just like she did for all of us, and that's not nothin', even if she did choose not to be a parent at first when she didn't think she could do a good job of it."
Aya suspired heavily, adjusting her dress under the pale blue shroud before removing it from her shoulder and unveiling her weeks-old son. "I'm not mad that she gave me up, Iz. I'm mad that she didn't tell me all this time."
Yui rolled her eyes. "She was probably worried it would make all the rest of us feel… I don't know, like less of her daughters or something. Not that we would've. I'm not saying I agree with her decision, but I at least can understand it."
"Can I get anyone anything while I'm up," Ukyo called as she made her way to the refrigerator.
"I'd love a beer."
"No," Mei said, glaring at Yui even as she answered Ukyo. "She would not."
"Oh, c'mon, Mei! You're not even gonna let me have a beer? Like, hard liquor I get, but… I'd have to drink my weight in beer to feel anything, and you know it." Yui clapped her hands to her thighs loudly in exasperation, but her younger sister and roommate would not budge.
"Yui, I haven't seen you sober in a week and a half. Please." Mei sighed, sitting back in the oak dining room chair. "So, what about you, Yui? Let's hear something about Sakura that drove you freakin' crazy."
The blonde sighed, rubbing her temples. "She left."
Ayako cringed. "Kinda walked into that one, but I think you're sort of missing the point of the exercise here, Yui. C'mon, somebody else go. Somebody with a really bad one."
Mei started to open her mouth, biting her lip and thinking better of whatever it was she'd been about to say. I'm pretty much over what happened with him, but it still messes with Ranko to think about Mikado sometimes. Better keep that one to myself. "Akane, what about you?"
Akane blushed, squeezing her lover tight around her waist as she bounced Ranko on her knee. "Well…"
Ranko turned her head to look up at her wife. What are… you never dated anybody before me!
"So," Akane began. "My dad's a traditionalist. Or, he was, before he found out his daughter's bi, anyway." She giggled brightly, and several of the other girls joined her. "So, he set up one of those arranged marriages and stuck me with this absolute jerk of a boy…" As she spoke, her fingers idly stroked the right side of Ranko's neck. The soft sensuality sent Akane's wife into a shivering silence.
"Oooh," Izumi said, walking back in from the kitchen and perching herself on one of her dining room chairs. "Arranged marriages always bring out the worst kinds of boys. Tell us everything, girl!"
Ukyo blushed, both at knowing exactly what her friend was up to, and at her observation of the way Akane was keeping Ranko pacified and paralyzed with her touch.
"So, yeah. This dude. Ugh! Didn't think girls could, or even should, fight. He couldn't go more than about five minutes without calling me uncute or tomboy, something like that. Talk about sexist - he wouldn't even learn how to fold a shirt or cook an egg, because those were jobs for girls. And, like, he wore the same shirt and pants just about every single day." As she spoke, she gently rocked Ranko in her arms. Her intent was to make her lover blush, to be sure, but only in praise of the person she had become, and everything the person she was describing had needed to unlearn in order to become the sweet and kind woman she loved so much.
Akayo crinkled her nose. "That's just nasty."
Akane smirked, continuing to tease Ranko's flesh as she laid her former life bare. Ranko, for her part, could only whimper quietly, coyly hiding her furious blush against her lover's shoulder. She couldn't even make a run for it; her aluminum crutches had been moved and leaned against the wall, far out of reach without assistance, to prevent anyone from tripping on them in the narrow living room.
"He was absolutely emotionally unavailable," Akane continued. "Wouldn't ever talk about anything he felt, and didn't want me to, either. Couldn't so much as get an I love you out of that creep in two years. It was obvious he didn't want anything to do with me, but he'd beat the hell out of anyone else who tried to get close. And that's not even counting how the pervert used to sneak into my bedroom at night after I was asleep!"
I'm so, so sorry, Akane. Ranko sighed quietly as she remained enveloped in her wife's arms. You deserved so much better than the person I was back then. I hope you're getting everything you need from me now, at least. I love you so much.
"Ugh! Akane, I'm sorry!" Mei reached out, putting her hand on Akane's left shoulder, her right being occupied by her wife's neon-red face. "How'd you get out of it, if it was arranged like that? Did your dad finally let you out of it?"
Akane smiled warmly down at the top of Ranko's head, planting a kiss on it through a shock of bright red hair. "As it happens, I lucked out, and he just packed up and left one day. Not long after, I ended up finding this little princess instead, and the rest is history."
Ranko didn't look up, but Akane could feel the flesh of her lover's cheeks continuing to warm against her bare shoulder.
"Oh, yeah. I didn't even tell you girls the worst part," Akane said with a smirk. "He was fooling around with what, three other girls at the same time? Maybe even more? Right in front of me, too! Wasn't even shy about it! Always lettin' 'em bring him food, hug and kiss on him, all of it. In my own house half the time, even!"
"No shit, right?!" Ukyo smirked at her friend in Akane's lap, not that the redhead saw it. "He did the same thing with me, too! That two-timing bastard! Ugh! And with all the free okonomiyaki I gave him, shit, I could've afforded to close the restaurant for a month and come on tour with Crash!" She giggled, quite enjoying the way the teasing was tormenting poor Ranko.
Ayako leaned closer to Akane from her place on the couch, cradling her infant son's head tight against her chest with her hand. "What was his name?"
Ranko's wife smiled down at her lover, hesitating for a moment in thought before shaking her head and stroking her beloved's hair. "It doesn't matter. He's in the past, where he belongs, and I'm right where I belong now." She ran her fingers gently through Ranko's bangs, before picking up one of Ranko's twin pigtails and tickling her nose with the end of it like a paintbrush. "With the love of my life."
"What about you, Ranko?" Yui prodded her youngest sister gently on the shoulder. "Surely you've got at least one dating horror story in there somewhere."
Ranko looked up, a dreamy expression in her eyes, after Akane stopped teasing her long enough to allow her to rejoin the conversation. "I don't know what all you hussies are talking about," Ranko said with a bright smile up at Akane. "I'm a good girl. I married my high school sweetheart."
"Yeah?" Mei gave her sister a nudge. "And what about that Eiji kid?"
"That was pretend, I told you," Ranko answered with a groan. "That shit don't count."
Mei chuckled. "Was he a boy?"
"Obviously," Ranko chuckled.
"So, then, clearly, he was gross. Dish, girl!" Mei giggled brightly.
Ranko's face flushed even more. "I mean, it was just the standard boy stuff. Thinkin' girls didn't know nothin' about sports, not letting me talk around his friends, sorta just treating me as an object to show off in his trophy case, the usual kinda crap. Ya know?"
Akane frowned. I still hate that she went through that whole experience for me. But gods, it could have been so much worse for her.
"Was he at least a good kisser," Mei asked hopefully.
"I told ya, I didn't kiss him! Ew! And he's gay, anyway!" Ranko made a disgusted face at the thought of it, the whole conversation bringing up memories of a week where half of her high school campus had been relatively certain she was pregnant with Eiji Kanda's kid.
"Sure ya didn't," Mei snickered. "Not even once?"
Ranko shook her head and gesticulated wildly in the direction of the young woman in the gray sweat pants on whose lap she sat. "Observe, Mei. See this? This is what I like. l like the people with the girl parts. I do not like the people with the boy parts."
"Unless the boy parts are detachable," Yui shot back with her trademark teasing snicker.
Ranko's face caught fire again. "Now, you just shut your damn face about that, Yui Fukawa!"
"Please," Yui retorted with a smirk and a wave. "It's not like anybody here doesn't know."
Akane snickered playfully at her wife. "Are you kidding? Anyone who has ever walked down our street after dark probably knows."
The redhead squirmed in Akane's lap. The act of sitting there, being held like that, already made her feel a certain kind of way, and the current subject of conversation was definitely not what she expected to be discussing in front of her whole family and Ukyo. "Even if it's true, a lady never tells." C'mon, bullshit social constraints! Save me!
"So what's stopping you," Mei said with a snicker, adjusting in her chair and sipping at her root beer. In the interests of not tormenting Yui, she'd opted to steer clear of alcohol for the afternoon.
"Look, you all suck, okay?" Ranko hid her face, pointing at Yui. "You suck." Her hand moved left, to Mei. "And you suck." Her hand slid back over to the right, to Ukyo. "And you suck." She squirmed slightly on Akane's lap. "And you suck, too, ya know."
Akane smirked, tickling her lover's ribs. "Yeah, but when I do, I don't normally hear you complaining…"
As Ranko struggled not to black out from all the blood flow to her face, Yui cackled at Akane's comment. "What about Crash," Yui prodded through her laughter. "I know you kissed him."
"I did not!" Ranko's face was somehow even brighter red than her hair. "He kissed me! I did not kiss him! There was absolutely no mutual kissage going on whatsoever! Zero!"
"Yes."
Mei and Ranko looked up to Ukyo. "Huh?"
The young chef blushed, hugging herself through her royal blue plush turtleneck sweater. "Yes. Crash is a phenomenal kisser. Ranko, honey, you missed out."
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
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Stein