บท 293: I'll Be Home for Christmas
Kasumi smiled softly, padding down the last two steps from her bedroom in her lavender nightgown and white house slippers. The sun had only just started peeking over the horizon, and the Tendo house was still dark save the multi-colored points of twinkling light cast on the walls and floor from the Christmas tree in the corner.
It's going to be so nice to be all together for Christmas again, she thought as she rounded the corner into the living room. With a bright matronly smile, she called out softly to Akane, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor staring at the tree. "Good morning, Akane! Merry Christmas!"
Akane nodded, turning her head to the side and lifting a finger to her lips. She gestured downward with her head, and as Kasumi stepped closer, she realized why her sister had chosen not to speak. Her knees tucked under her, Ranko lay pressed against Akane's body, her fingers loosely gripping handfuls of Akane's red satin pajamas and her head resting in the space between Akane's left shoulder and left breast. Sensing her wife-turned-pillow stirring, the sleeping redhead nuzzled tighter into Akane's chest, a contented unconscious purr of relaxation escaping the smaller girl's throat.
"Well, isn't she just the cutest thing," Kasumi whispered, smiling down at her two youngest sisters. "What time did you two get in last night?"
Akane shrugged, replying almost soundlessly. "It had to have been after three; we didn't even get out of her show until quarter after two. We got here, got changed, and came down here for a few minutes of quiet alone time." She motioned down to the sleeping girl in her arms with a soft smile. "Might have ended up being a little more than a few minutes."
"You've been up all night," Kasumi asked, receiving a silent nod in reply. "That's so sweet."
Ever so gently, Akane lowered her head, planting the softest of kisses on the top of her wife's head through her flame-red hair. It still smelled of hair spray, and the chemical served to lock Ranko's hair in the most disheveled possible configuration borne of a few hours of sleeping in a seated position. "I didn't have the heart to wake her. She's always so bone tired after her big shows."
Kasumi beamed at the young lovers, nodding in understanding. "Gods, Akane, it's so good to see the two of you so happy. You've been through so much, and just… When she left here that day, I never thought the day would come when we'd all be together like this again." She stifled a giggle, trying in vain to keep it quiet. "All four of us Tendo girls, under one roof for Christmas morning."
Akane smiled up at her eldest sister, the woman who had all but raised her. "Everything I could have ever imagined, Kasumi. Everything I could have ever dreamed. She's all that and so much more." Her adoring eyes fell back on the shock of matted red hair just under her chin. "I've never been so happy in my whole life. And neither has she."
Akane's eyes darted back up at the sound of a mechanical click and whir, finding Nabiki now standing next to Kasumi in her orange fox-print pajamas with a Polaroid camera in her hand. "Morning, girls," she said quietly, waving the film square that popped out of the front of her camera in the air to accelerate its development.
"Mm. Morning."
Before Ranko's eyes opened, Akane's lips were on her forehead. "Good morning to you too, beautiful. Merry Christmas."
"Mm-hmm. What time is it?" Ranko opened her eyes, stretching her arms with a vocalized yawn.
"Almost 7:30," Kasumi volunteered.
Ranko raised her eyes to meet Akane's, a soft, sleepy smile cracking her lips. "You… sat there and held me all night?"
With a nod, Akane tried in vain to corral Ranko's nearly crunchy, haphazard hair with her fingertips. "Nowhere on Earth I'd rather be, baby girl."
"Mm. I love you too, Akane." Ranko stretched her neck, reaching up with her hand to guide Akane's face down into a kiss. "But you should go get some sleep now. We have a busy day planned."
Akane smiled warmly. She shook her head in the negative, but her yawn betrayed how tired she really was. "Alright. Coming with me?"
The redhead shook her head, slowly clambering to her feet with a whimperingly vocalized stretch. "No such luck. I've got wife duty, helping Kasumi with breakfast."
"Honestly, Ranko, I can handle it myself. I always have," Kasumi offered with her trademark gentle smile, but Ranko waved her objection away with her hand.
"No, I wanna help." The redhead beamed down at her wife, offering her a hand to help her off the floor. "I wanna be part of making things special for my family."
Akane took the hand that was offered, supporting herself with it as she stood. Her back made several loud pops as she stretched, reaching for the ceiling with another loud yawn.
"C'mon, big sister Kasumi," Ranko said with a giggle, motioning toward the kitchen door. "Let's put all that bridal training you gave me to good use."
~~~
"I have to say, Kasumi, you outdid yourself. That just might be the best natto you've ever made," Soun said, patting his belly contentedly. "I might need thirds." He turned his head in reply to a bright giggle coming from his right, but the response came from Kasumi on his left.
"Actually, Father, that was Ranko's recipe." The de facto Tendo matriarch beamed with pride at the youngest of her three sisters.
He turned, beaming with pride at the young woman in the red dress seated between Akane and Nabiki. "Well, then the compliment rightly belongs to her. Well done, Ranko."
Ranko leaned into the congratulatory side hug from her wife, beaming with a radiant smile. "Why, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm so glad you liked it."
The mustachioed man laughed heartily, a broad grin across his face. "I don't even take office until the week after next, but that aside, there's no greater honor you could pay me than the title you usually use for me, Ranko, dear."
The redhead blushed, adjusting her hair with her hand as an excuse to hide her reddening cheeks. "You got it, Dad."
"That's better," Soun said, setting his chopsticks down on a little jade turtle next to his plate. "I'm so proud of you, Ranko. Of all of you girls, honestly. I don't say it nearly enough, but, I truly am blessed to have four incredible daughters. I love you all."
Nabiki nodded, standing and scooping her bowl and plate from the table. "We love you too, Daddy. Akane, wanna give me a hand? Kasumi and Ran-chan cooked; the least we can do is handle the dishes."
"Right!" Akane hopped to her feet, picking up the still-warm soup bowl in front of her wife. Ranko giggled as the hem of Akane's yellow dress tickled her shoulders as she hurried past.
~~~
"Don't you girls have to get going? What time are you two expected at Hana's?"
Akane lifted her eyes to meet the gaze of her other mother-in-law. "We're gonna go in just a few more minutes, Ma Shimizu. Ranko has one more thing she wanted to do first." She frowned slightly, dreading the second half of their Christmas Day schedule. Between Yui's deepening melancholy and the rift between Hana and Ayako, she wasn't expecting an especially festive time. She did, however, find a smile at the sound of footsteps descending the stairs from her former bedroom. "Hey, beautiful. Are you about ready?"
Ranko blushed, slipping the long black bag from her back. She lowered it by the shoulder strap to the dining room table and began to unzip it. "Yep!" She smiled at the merry belly laugh from her adoptive father as she turned to face him, her shiny phoenix-styled guitar strapped across her chest.
"If you remember, Dad, it was you and Akane makin' me sing at Christmas that got all this started for me in the first place." She gestured with her neck to the framed photo of herself and Akane, embracing backstage at the Wild Orchid release celebration a month to the day ago, mounted on the dining room wall. "Only seems right that we make it a tradition, huh?"
Ranko sat on the tabletop, pulling the pink plastic pick from a small leather pouch affixed to the back of the guitar and beginning to pluck at its strings, a bright smile on her lips as she swayed on her backside, tapping at the floor with her foot to keep time.
"Rockin' around the Christmas tree, at the Christmas party hop. Mistletoe hung where you can see; every couple tries to stop. Rockin' around the Christmas tree, let the Christmas spirit ring! Later, we'll have some pumpkin pie, and we'll do some caroling…"
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