Capítulo 35: Chapter 35: Little Yuzu
"Awe Mei, please! Do we really have to go?" Yuzu pleaded as she tried to remain next to her mother on the sofa, dead set that she didn't want to leave right now, but that didn't really have an effect on the youngest girl as she only narrowed her eyes at the whining tone.
"It wasn't a question Yuzu, get your stuff ready to leave," Mei said, a little too coldly as she had had enough of this charade Yuzu had put up for the past hour. They had postponed this long enough, if they waited any longer it would be nightfall before they got home.
Puffing up her cheeks, Yuzu continued to cling to her mother's arm and wedged herself further into the couch. "Why can't I just pick you up when you're done? If I go I'm just gonna get questioned and accused of things. He'll jump at the chance to get rid of me and you know it!" Yuzu said defensively as her voice raised ever so slightly, clearly being upset by the matter.
"And if you don't go you just make it look like you did do something... Mother?" Mei spat back, sighing before she turned to their mother for help, hoping she would be able to sway her daughter into leaving the apartment.
"I don't know what happened between you two so I'm afraid I don't have a say in this." Giving a nervous chuckle Ume raised her hand up as she gave Mei an apologetic look while she felt her biological daughter tighten her grip, shuffling further and further from her girlfriend.
"I don't care, that sounds better than being ridiculed for ages about why I'm not good enough. Cuz whatever I say he won't believe me, and then he will just use you crying against me and I'll be stuck! I'm not going." Yuzu said sternly as she had to look away from Mei, not being able to have an argument face to face so soon after they had just made up.
By this point, Mei felt like being petty and just telling the blonde to make her own way home then, but the glimpse of fear and guilt in the emerald eyes before she looked away stopped Mei.
"You don't know that Yuzu. He doesn't hate you, he said himself he has accepted you so please stop making this more than it has to be. Nothing he says will make any difference to how I see you so can we go please?" Her voice slightly softer now, Mei tried to reason with the cowering blonde.
Of course, nothing her Grandfather had to say would make Mei change her mind about her girlfriend, but it was her birthday yesterday and he had requested she come and see him.
Mei had already received her yearly gift from the man of several thousand being put into her account, but she noticed it was slightly higher this year, most likely because it was her twenty-first. She had to go and thank him for his generosity along with clearing Yuzu's name. After all, he hadn't heard from her or the blonde since she had left on Saturday night after turning up at his doorstep in tears.
But as soon as the topic was brought up Yuzu had refused to go. Starting off by simply avoiding the subject, to politely asking Mei if she could stay here with their mother, and now getting defensive, upset and angry about it.
Yuzu seemed a little taken aback by the statement, this wasn't a little thing for her. Their Grandfather had a stare that rivalled no other, even Mei bowed down to it. Yuzu would crumble, feel like less than a speck of sand once he started digging into her about the state she had Mei in the previous week. Yuzu knew it would happen, and she didn't exactly want to put herself in that situation where she felt too powerless to fight back and knowing that he would rather Mei be with someone else.
"It's not nothing, Mei."
Mei went to speak again but was cut off by Yuzu who let go of her mother's arm. "I would rather he just got told from you whatever you want him to hear than give him the opportunity to belittle me."
Eyes widened in frustration. This was her Grandfather here, not someone Yuzu should speak of so casually and rudely about.
"He is my Grandfather Yuzu, please don't speak about him like that. We have been together for years now and he knows that it is serious, he knows that nothing he can say will change that. If he does question you it will just be out of concern, and rightly so considering how I ended up at his manor. Besides all this, he is also your Grandfather, you should at least want your name to mean something to him. If not as his granddaughter then as my partner. He might not like being challenged, but he will respect you more for showing up than backing out of seeing him to own up."
Mei started in a warning tone, immediately shipping Yuzu up into shape about her attitude towards the man. She was walking on thin ice with the way she was speaking about him. As she continued she got more and more caring and by the end, Mei was genuinely trying to comfort her girlfriend by reassuring her.
Although even at Mei's attempt at comfort Yuzu moved her gaze from Mei to her hands, deliberately breaking the eye contact as a simple way for her showing she was set with her answers.
Moving back into the couch Yuzu kept her line of sight on her hands even when she heard Mei give a frustrated sigh. "Fine, do what you want. Goodbye Mother, thank you for the birthday wishes and dinner last night. I'm sure I'll see you soon." Mei gave a weak smile to the woman before lifting her coat from the couch and walking out the door.
Yuzu had the keys to their new car so that meant Mei was walking to her Grandfather's house and would most likely message her when she wanted to be picked up.
"Are you sure that was wise?" Ume spoke up as she watched Yuzu sulk on the couch, concerned that her daughters had only just made up from one fight and another was already beginning.
"What was I supposed to do Mama? If I go he is going to shout at me and tell me I'm not good enough for Mei. Why should I go over there just to have that shoved in my face?" Yuzu grumbled, her anger coming through in spits as she tried not to get too worked up.
Sure she wanted the man to know that what had made Mei so upset was no longer an issue, and she wanted him to know that she had felt terrible about how she had made Mei feel. But what she didn't want was to try and explain all this to a stubborn man who was set in his ways and Yuzu felt was only waiting for the opportunity to jump down her throat and replace her with a wealthy man who could support Mei.
"Maybe you should think about why Mei wanted you to go with her so badly. Perhaps she wanted you there for the support when she goes to see him?" Ume suggested, giving a sympathetic smile to the confused look Yuzu pulled.
"Why would she need support to go and see him? She's like the most important thing to him, he's not going to shout at her like he would to me if I went. Besides he asked Mei round for her birthday, not to make her feel bad." Yuzu said, thinking her mother was completely lost in her line of thought.
"Perhaps, and I don't doubt that Mei is cared deeply for by him, but think of it this way: Mei is going to go over there alone, tell him that whatever happened is no longer a problem and that you two are fine. He knows you are here because Shou spoke to him last night before he left this morning, so he will no doubt question Mei about why you left her to come alone." Ume made a gesture with her hands to see if her daughter had caught on to what she was trying to convey, but Yuzu only shrugged her shoulders, waiting for her mother to continue.
Sighing softly, Ume decided to be a little more direct in what she was saying. "So if that were to happen, he would most likely have the conversation with Mei about you. You leaving Mei to go alone shows him that you don't have the courage to stand up for yourself and her, leaving her to speak with him alone only proves his argument that you aren't what she needs. And before you say you are, I'm just guessing at what He will say, I don't think that about you for a second." Ume cut Yuzu off as she puffed up her cheeks ready to counter her mother's words.
"What I'm getting at, is that maybe Mei didn't want to have to defend your honour and say that you truly did do nothing wrong alone. You know yourself that Mei isn't too confident when it comes to going against him, so maybe she was scared to do it alone. Having you there would not only help in showing your Grandfather that you care about Mei and are willing to fight and prove yourself but give Mei the emotional support she needs." Ume smiled when she saw realisation burst onto Yuzu face.
"Wait, you're saying that she wanted me there so that when he inevitably asks about our relationship then she won't be so nervous?" Yuzu asked, getting clarification from her Mother. Who smiled weakly again at her understanding.
"Do you remember when you were ten and I got a call from your school telling me you had been suspended for two weeks?" She got a frightful nod from Yuzu, who remembered the scolding she got like it was yesterday.
"You came to speak to me with Matsuri so you wouldn't be alone. I love you more than anything in the world and yet I still had a temper like a raging bull, given I did take most of it out on the school, anyway, so when you knew how I was going to react you brought Matsuri along for moral support. Back then you relied on her presence to give you the courage you needed to say to me what you needed to, even with my anger... Right now, you need to be Mei's Matsuri." Ume gave her final explanation to her daughter and it finally seemed to click.
She remembered how she felt walking into that room where her enraged mother, who she knew was waiting for her, was. Bringing her friend along stopped her from bursting into tears straight away and allowed her to tell Ume her side of the story.
"Mama I think I gotta go," Standing from the couch Yuzu smiled gratefully to Ume before rushing to the bedroom to pack up the few items she brought with her along with her new dress from last night.
Soon she was running down the stairs to the car and after chucking the bag into the boot, drove quickly to their Grandfather's house. Hoping to get there before Mei's interrogation began.
Small feet came to a stop outside of the door, Yuzu's trembling fist came to knock on the hardwood. The door looming over her like the door to the final boss chamber in a video game. The, never to be crossed boss, lying in wait on the other side.
"C' mon Yuzu-chan, she can't be that bad and if she does shout at you I'll be right here to back you up." A sweet little voice came from the even shorter brunette, who rested a reassuring hand to the blonde's small shoulder.
Giving a 'Hmph' and a sure nod of the head, the baby knuckles gently knocked against the door and her mother's voice came through immediately.
"Come here...now." The cold voice was one that made both girls shiver and waver before they opened the door, very slowly, and edged into the room.
Yuzu, who was rather short for her age, looked up into the room where she was met with her mother standing next to a large desk with blueprints scattered over it and throughout the room. Her face showed anger, annoyance, worry and Yuzu thought she saw concern in their too, but the prominent expression of anger had her too nervous to think about it.
"Matsuri, what are you doing here?" Glazing over her baby anxious clone for a moment, Ume went straight to the girl next to her. "Umm Yuzu-chan asked me to be here so she wouldn't get upset when you shouted at her." The still innocent girl said as she twisted her toe into the floorboards, feeling like she was the one in trouble here.
"Well this is going to be a private conversation so I'm going to have to ask you to go home please," Ume said, her tone much softer as she saw the nervous look on her daughter's friend's face.
"P-please let her stay Mama," Yuzu pleaded, her eyes watering at the prospect of being left to face her mother alone.
After a moment of consideration, Ume sighed at the pair, not seeing the point in arguing. Along with the look in her daughter's eye that almost made Ume not want to reprimand her.
Taking a step back to rest against the edge of the table, Ume sighed as she went over the story the head teacher had given her this afternoon. Telling her that her daughter had been suspended for drawing inappropriate images in her textbook, talking back to the teacher and then throwing her books onto the floor and stomping out of the classroom.
Her daughter had never been one to act like this which was why Ume was so surprised when she was told. Now having to replace all the books Yuzu had thrown on the floor along with taking the time off work to look after her.
"Where do I even start? First vandalism, drawing that type of thing in the school's books, shouting at the teacher then throwing a fit and walking out the classroom? What on earth were you thinking?!" Yuzu tried to hide but there was nothing to shield her from Ume's growing in volume voice or the distressed look on her face.
"I- I didn't do it." It came out as a little more than a mumble.
"You didn't do it? Are you telling me your head teacher just lied to me for an hour, telling me how I have raised you wrong for you to think acting like that is acceptable? Because I assure you Yuzuko she did not sound like she was lying." Ume voice grew colder as she spoke, now Yuzu was lying to her after being suspended.
"No!... she wasn't lying...but..." Yuzu shouted the first word but the rest again came out shy and weary.
"But?" Ume was not in the mood for her daughter's game of beating around the bush. She wanted answers and she wanted them now.
"I-I didn't draw the naughty picture," Yuzu said, sounding a little more sure than before, but her eyes still not always meeting her mother's angered gaze.
"It was in your book Yuzuko, nobody else is allowed to touch your book. You were the only one to touch it-" Ume went to continue but was cut off by a raised voice from the blonde.
"Not true! I went to the bathroom and when I came back someone had drawn it there. I promise!" Yuzu begged for her mother's belief, and her eyes did soften slightly.
"Yelling at the teacher and throwing things over the room?" Ume asked as she began to see where this was leading after all her daughter had a temper much like her own.
"I tried to tell the teacher that it wasn't me but he wouldn't believe me. He called me out in front of the whole class to show how bad I was and then I saw Kono laughing at me. I knew it was her so I said that... Then he started accusing me of lying and I got really mad at him for calling me that..." Yuzu said but she trailed off again, leaving Ume to prompt her again.
"And then what happened?"
"I smacked my hands off the table, and then he got mad at me for doing that saying that all my behaviour was going to get me in even bigger trouble... so then I shouted that I didn't care because he wasn't listening to me and I left." By this point Yuzu could feel the piercing gaze from her Mama when she clasped onto Matsuri's hand, hoping it would somehow shield her from whatever came from her mother.
"Did or didn't you throw the books on the floor?" Ume wanted the whole story, if she was to go and plead her daughter's innocence then she would need to know everything she did.
Going to speak but not having the ability as her throat tightened up and her eyes watered as she knew she would get into trouble for what she did. Whether she started it or not.
Nodding her head, Yuzu watched her feet and cringed when she heard her mother give a deep sigh of disappointment. Yuzu thought she heard her mother curse under her breath and was glad that she was trying to cap her anger at the moment.
Ume was always like that with her, Yuzu had seen her mother get angry, but never at her. Upset, annoyed and sometimes irritated yes, but she always managed to keep her cool with her daughter. Though it looked like she was having a harder time than usual today.
Yuzu knew she was wrong, she shouldn't have gotten so worked up and just told Ume when she came home, so it was half her fault.
"How many times have I told you that violence is never the answer? If you have a disagreement with your teacher like that you don't blow up at them, you come and talk to me about it." Ume scolded, still not understanding why her daughter who usually followed all the rules had taken such a reaction today.
"I know that Ma-"
"Then why did you do it?!" Ume's voice raised at the simplicity of her daughter's answer. But she quickly pulled herself together and apologised to Yuzu who wore a slightly frightened expression while her sobs were finally released.
"I'm sorry Mama!" Yuzu wailed as she let go of the younger girls hand and ran into Ume's legs. Hugging them tightly as she tried to comfort herself. After all, she had been lectured all afternoon by the teachers at her school, come home to receive something similar from her mother; she was ten, and her emotions were still as they are now. So being shouted at so much had her eyes pooling with tears as she was finally able to show how upset she was.
Ume, who knew she still had to have a proper chat with Yuzu about the way she had acted, instantly caved at her crying baby girl. Quickly dropping down to one knee and wrapping her in a tight hug while reassuring her that it was okay.
When Yuzu wrapped her small arms around the older woman's neck and held on for dear life, Ume took the signs and lifted the little girl onto her hip. Stroking her back and bobbing her up and down to try and calm her down, all the while Yuzu sobbing about how Ume was the best mother ever and had raised her right, along with countless apologies.
"Matsuri dear, I think you should head home. Yuzu's going to be alright, would you like me to walk you?"Ume gave the blue-eyed girl a small smile, but with her offer being refused, opted for watching her from the window to make sure she got home safely.
"Now calm down sweetie, it's alright. We just need to have a little talk about how you handle things, I'm not going to shout at you." Sighing softly Ume walked to the living room and managed to get Yuzu to sit down on the couch by herself while the lecture began.
[Note: There would be a chapter update every 12:00 Noon from Aug 19 to 25]
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