**********
 
 
Goban Yobi-ko was a very large, exclusive school, where only the best could
attend. Kanzen, Suteki, and Kirei attended various levels of it. Recently,
a kindergarten section had been added, so the Kaiou family eagerly enrolled
the triplets into it. Ki and Tadashii could tell their children were bright
and wanted them to get ahead quickly. The three were placed in separate
classes.
Michiru walked carefully into her new kindergarten classroom, looking
from her new teacher to her classmates with wide eyes. She clutched the
tiny straps of her backpack as she walked to a seat. It wasn't time yet
for school to start, but she was the last one nevertheless. She took a
seat near the back of the room, with an empty seat on either side of it.
She carefully set her backpack down and unzipped it, putting things
inside her desk before she zipped it again. She pushed a loose strand of
her wavy hair back behind her ear and smoothed her pigtails, then
adjusted herself in her seat. She carefully clasped her hands in front of
her on her desk as she looked forward with a calm look on her face.
The teacher tapped her finger thoughtfully against her chin. "Well,
class, as I was saying, I want everyone to tell me your names and your
interests when class starts, which is after the bell rings."
"Mushi-sensei!" a little boy wailed. "I need to go to the bathroooommmm!"
The teacher blinked rapidly. "Er, all right, make it quick."
The boy dashed from the room while most of the kids giggled.
Someone turned around in their seat to look at her. "Hi," she whispered
to Michiru. "I'm Niwa. Who're you?"
"Hi, I'm Michiru." Michiru glanced over the girl quickly, noting her
bright orange hair and wide green eyes. Her uniform was a bit wrinkled
already. Michiru noted that with a bit of disdain. The girls' sailor
uniforms had a blue skirt and collar, and a red bow, which didn't match
this girl's hair well to begin with, and when it was messy like that, it
looked worse. Ureshii was teaching Michiru the basics of art, and she had
learned about color quickly since she loved coloring, and knew that since
blue and orange were compliments, they looked unusually bright, even
garish together. Niwa proved this theory.
"Boy, you're quiet," Niwa commented. Michiru had been silent after her
greeting. "Are you--"
The bell rang, interrupting Niwa, and the little boy ran back into the
room.
"Okay, I want everybody to go in order and say your name and interests,
and something else about you too. Why don't you go first?" Mushi-sensei
pointed at someone in the front row.
Michiru was in the back, so she had a good wait until it was her turn.
She took out a coloring book and crayons from her backpack and started
coloring a picture.
When it got to be her turn, she stood up quietly and said, "My name is
Kaiou Michiru. I like coloring and drawing, and my mom wants me to learn
violin. I have two older sisters, an older brother, and I'm the middle of
triplets, another sister and a brother." She sat down, and started coloring
again.
"Can we see the picture you're coloring?" someone asked.
Michiru shyly held it up, and several kids "ooo"ed and "ahhh"ed.
"Wow, she can color in the lines!"
"That's pretty!"
Michiru smiled and put her coloring book and crayons away since class
would most likely be starting now.
"Well, I know this is everyone's first day here, but we should get
cracking on our schoolwork now so we'll have time for fun later! We're
going to start to learn about hiragana everyone. Does anyone know what
'hiragana' is?"
Michiru raised her hand and answered, "It's our basic written language."
"That's right, Michiru-chan. I'm going to teach all of you how to write
your names in hiragana, ok? Let's start with you, Michiru-chan, since
you got that last question right."
Mushi-sensei wrote her name on the board, then turned. "See, everyone,
this first character stands for 'mi', and the last for 'ru'. Does anyone
know what the middle is though?"
"Chi?" someone called out.
"Actually," Michiru started, then stopped because she hadn't raised her
hand.
"It's all right, Michiru-chan, go ahead."
"Well, that character is actually 'ti', but it does stand for 'chi'."
Mushi-sensei looked completely blown away. "How'd you know that?"
"My parents taught me how to write hiragana."
Mushi-sensei's eyebrow twitched. "Er... well... okay, let's go on to
someone else now, shall we?"
Michiru sat, bored, while the teacher went through everyone's names.
Mushi-sensei never did call on her again, Michiru noted. Maybe it was
because she thought that all the other kids would learn better if they
figured things out on their own.
Oh well.
 
 
At the break between classes, Michiru sat by herself. All the other kids
seemed afraid to go near her. She could hear some of them talking as she
was sitting there.
"--knows much more that us! She can color really good!"
"She's spooky, she knows hiragana already. I can't even write my name
yet!"
"She said she's going to learn violin, and my mama says violin is really
hard. She's really weird."
"She doesn't belong in kindergarten! She's too smart for us."
"She's a... a tri-- a truh-- a--"
"Triplet, stupid. Kanpeki-chan's in my class, and she's really weird, just
like Michiru-chan."
"Genki's weird too. They're a wacko family."
Michiru sighed and tucked her knees under her chin. Everyone thought she
and her fellow triplets were weird. Oh well. She freed her wavy hair from
the pigtails, for the moment, and looked out at the clouds, trying to see
pictures in them.
She didn't really need to talk to those other kids anyways.
 
 
**********
 
 
Haruka yawned loudly, causing several kids to turn around to look at her.
It had been a few months now since she had started kindergarten, and she
found it really boring. For starters, she had to wear a funny sailor
uniform with a gray collar and skirt and black bow. Then there were her
classmates, all very boring. They never talked with her much and made no
attempt to become friends. Sai was going to a different school, and Cindy
had moved to a new neighborhood, so Haruka didn't have anyone to talk to anymore.
They didn't learn anything interesting in school either. The only part
Haruka was enjoying was the fact that they took physical education. Haruka
loved to play and run, and this gave her the chance to do it. Forget
learning hiragana, adding and subtracting, and how to be a good little
kid; having fun was what she loved to do the most. She did hate, however,
how her skirt made it hard to run sometimes, and how her bangs fell in
her eyes despite her efforts to tame them. At least she didn't have long
hair to whip into her face like most of the other girls; her parents let
her wear it short. She couldn't imagine how she'd look with braids or
pigtails.
Haruka leapt out of her seat as soon as the bell rang for dismissal.
Kotori was picking her up today, and she was going to start teaching her
how to play something called a "piano."
"Hi obaa-san!" she told her as she got into her car. "How're you?"
Kotori smiled. "I'm fine, Haruka-chan, you?" Kotori pushed a strand of
wavy white-blond hair behind her ear; her hair was once a darker shade,
but age was starting to lighten it, and her blue eyes had faint wrinkles
around them. Kotori started the car and they pulled out of the parking
lot to go home.
"I'm all right. School was boring, as usual. So you're gonna teach me to
play a piano?"
"Well, not all at once, but today we'll start."
"Is that the big shiny black thing with white and black bars?"
"Keys, they're called keys, but yes, that's it."
"I like how it sounds. Do you think I can make it sound nice?"
"I'm sure you can."
Haruka grinned and got up on her knees so she could see out the window.
She was tall for her age, but she was still small enough for it to be too
hard to see out a window in a car without sitting up some. She watched
everything pass by quickly, as usual, fascinated by the speed at which
things went by.
"You like going fast, don't you?" Kotori asked.
Haruka nodded quickly. "It's really neat to watch everything, and it's
fun when you're running too, cuz you can feel the wind hitting your face.
I like the wind."
Kotori laughed. "I should hope so. It's part of your namesake after all."
Haruka cocked her head and thought about that. "Oh yeah, your last name
..."
Kotori smiled. "I'm glad you actually remembered it. When you were
younger, you thought it was..." Kotori winced slightly, "Kare."
Haruka giggled. "I know, I'm sorry!"
"It's all right, you're entitled to make mistakes."
Haruka smiled a bit, then went back to watching the world go past.
Kotori pulled up in the driveway and opened Haruka's door. "There you go,"
she said. She always kept the childlock on so kids wouldn't accidentally
open the door while the car was in motion.
As soon as they entered the house, Sunao came and hugged Haruka and her
mother. "Thank you so much," she said. "I'm glad that you agreed to teach
her piano. She needs _something_ to do, after all."
Kotori just laughed and told her, "Don't worry, I don't mind at all! It
will be lots of fun to teach her, and I'm sure she'll enjoy it, right
Haruka-chan?"
Haruka looked up and nodded slowly.
"C'mon, let's get started!"
Haruka followed her grandmother silently into the room with the piano,
and sighed to herself as she sat down to start learning how to play.
 
 
**********
 
 
"No! No, pay attention! Play it again!"
Michiru quivered and lifted her violin again. The young girl was only
seven, but Ki had insisted that her father, Miyage, start teaching her at
this young age how to play the violin. While she enjoyed to play it, she
did _not_ enjoy the fact that every mistake she made was harshly
criticized. She bit her lip and started to play again, this time
correcting her previous error.
"Michiru-chan! You corrected your mistake only to make another one!"
Michiru gritted her teeth. She wished she could just throw that music in
his face and do things the way she wanted to. She sighed bitterly and
resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to do it _his_
way or not at all. She played the selection again, this time playing it
perfectly.
"Good, Michiru-chan. Play it once more like that or better and then
we'll be done for the day."
She played it again and got it right. She carefully put her violin away
while Miyage was going on and on about music and things, but she really
wasn't listening to him, she was remembering voices from earlier in the
day. She'd been made fun of again by the kids in her class. She usually
ignored them, after all, they were just jealous of her and were saying
these things as a ridiculous attempt to try and bring her down to their
level, but today they struck a nerve that still ached from their words.
"Are you listening? I'm trying to help you."
Michiru blinked rapidly and looked up at him. "I'm sorry, I was thinking.
What did you say?"
"I was suggesting that you try holding it more like this--" Miyage demon-
strated with his own violin, "--and you might get a better tone."
"Mmmm. Ok." Michiru picked up the instrument case and started to leave the
room. She stumbled and fell to her knees, jarring her mind with deja vu.
Earlier that day, she'd tripped in front of her classmates, and they'd
all laughed at her. "Little Miss Perfect finally screws up!" "Did the
rich girl skin her knees? Too bad." "Can't even walk right can you? All
you do is sit there, drawing and reading and doing schoolwork. Serves ya
right." "You should have just been Siamese triplets; three heads are
better than one of yours!"
Michiru quickly picked up the case and dashed out to her room, shutting
and locking the door behind her. She set the case down and flopped down
on her bed, trying not to cry. She hated all those kids. She was smarter
than them, she knew that much, and she was definitely more mature and
skilled. Why did they all hate her then? No one ever tried to be her
friend, ever since kindergarten. Why did they have to shun her for such
silly reasons?
She rolled onto her side, her aqua hair getting ruffled and causing her
headband to slide from its usual position. She hugged herself and tried
to ignore everything. Just bottle it up, she told herself. Don't let it
get to you. You don't need those jerks. You don't need anyone.
She trembled all over and buried her face in her hands as she sobbed.
 
 
**********
 
 
"Everyone have everything packed?"
"Yes, papa!"
Tadashii smiled as he rounded up his six children into their van.
Michiru struggled some with her suitcase, and he tenderly took it from
her and put it away himself. "Thank you, papa," she said softly as she
climbed into her seat and buckled her seatbelt.
It was the summer Michiru was in second grade, and Ki had convinced
Tadashii that a trip to the beach was in order. Kanzen had bragged to
Michiru that he'd gone with his friends before, but Michiru knew he was
lying. The sparkle of anticipation in his eyes betrayed him; he always got
it when he was going to experience something new.
She pressed her forehead against her window and watched everything rush
by while her older sisters argued, as usual, over a pillow. Kanzen was
studying and muttering to himself between notes. Genki was trying to nap
and wasn't succeeding. Kanpeki seemed lost in her own world, as usual,
staring blankly into space. Ki was reading a book between checking the
map and commenting to Tadashii, "Are you _sure_ you know how to get
there?" to which he would grumble in retort, "Yes, dear, I'm sure."
Michiru yawned softly, puzzling over things in her mind. She didn't know
much about the beach. It was a sandy area by the ocean, and it was
supposed to be lots of fun. The other things she knew all had to do with
school related things, like about the animals in it and whatnot.
"Yiiiii! You're grabbing my hair!"
"If you'd just give me the pillow I wouldn't!"
"Grrr... LET GO!!!"
Kanzen sighed while Ki tried to calm her older daughters. He leaned over
to Michiru and commented lightly, "Such babies, aren't they? You seem to
set a better example for them than they for you."
Michiru giggled and blushed slightly at the compliment. "Thank you,
Kanzen. I can't believe you've put up with them for so long."
Kanzen laughed with her, then went back to his reading while Michiru
looked out the window some more, then fell asleep.
 
 
"We're HEEE-ere!" Tadashii announced, stirring Michiru from her rest.
"Everyone head to the bathrooms to change, then meet back at the car."
As they piled out of the car, Michiru got her first glimpse of the ocean.
She gasped in delight when she saw it. "Oh wow, it's so pretty!" she
squealed, eager to race over to it. She grabbed her swimsuit, ran to the
bathroom, changed in record time, then impatiently waited for her family.
Tadashii was the first out. When he saw Michiru pouting, he studied her
sad face a moment, then went over and bent down to her level. "How would
you like it if we went ahead of the others?"
Michiru looked up at him with an excited expression. "Really?! Yay!!"
She started running for the beach, Tadashii laughing as he followed along
behind her. She didn't even pause when she reached the water, immediately
plunging into the waves. She splashed around happily, ducking under several
times, until Tadashii pulled her up out of the water.
"Michiru-chan! Be careful! You haven't had swimming lessons yet!"
Michiru looked up at him. "So? It's just water, it won't hurt me."
"You could drown if you aren't careful. Stay by me, all right, and don't go
under!"
Michiru pouted again. "I was doing fine!"
"Just to be on the safe side--"
"Paaapaaa... can't I go under if you're watching me? I'll be careful, I
promise!"
Tadashii rubbed his temples, exasperated. "I'm trying to convince a child
... *sigh* fine..."
"Yay!" Michiru held her breath and ducked under the waves again, kicking
her legs. When she surfaced, Tadashii seemed very astonished.
"Did you take lessons and I'm somehow forgetting?"
"No, papa, never."
He shook his head. "Figured out on her own how to swim..."
Michiru didn't know what he was getting at, so she turned away and started
swimming some more.
"That girl is too smart for her own good..."
Ki came out soon and led the other children out. Kanzen seemed mildly
amused, Kirei and Suteki both confused and a bit scared, Genki just looked
tired and didn't care, but Kanpeki was overjoyed. She raced for the water,
and splashed around up to her ankles. "Wheeeeeee!"
"Silly," Michiru said, sticking her tongue out. "You have to _swim_, you
can't just splash."
Kanpeki frowned and walked in up to her shoulders, then stopped.
"Baby."
"I'm the same age as you," Kanpeki retorted, sticking her tongue out.
"No, I'm a few minutes older."
"That doesn't make me a baby!"
"Girls," Tadashii warned, "there's no need to fight."
"She's teasing me cuz I won't swim!"
"Well, if you can't swim, don't try it."
Kanpeki frowned while Michiru grinned triumphantly.
"I won," Michiru said. "I won I won I won--"
"Shut up!" Kanpeki shouted.
"KANPEKI-CHAN!!" Ki hollered. "Don't say such things to your sister!"
"She won't stop teasing me!"
"Just ignore her!"
"But I can't," she whined, glaring at her triplet.
"You'll have to learn to. She's smart and she'll try to play mind games
with you."
Kanpeki mumbled to herself, "How come no one notices I'm as smart as her?!"
"What was that?"
"... Nothing..."
Michiru just sniffed and went back to swimming.
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~
 
CHAPTER 3
~~~~~~~~~~
 
 
Haruka yawned as she sat down at the piano bench. She stretched her
fingers, carefully rested them on the keys, and started playing a
complex melody most would never attempt at her age. Kotori and Sunao
listened with looks of approval clear on their faces. When Haruka
finished, she simply stood up, at took a seat in an easy chair. Kotori
and Sunao applauded and grinned at her. "Very good!" Sunao complimented
her daughter. "I'm quite surprised! It didn't take long at all for you
to excel at this!"
Haruka just shrugged and looked up at the ceiling. She was about ten
years old now, coming near the end of elementary school. She was still
quite tall and thin, with her hair still worn short. She still hated
school, the same old waste of time it always was. And just like when she
was younger, she didn't have much to speak of in the way of friends. The
girls avoided her because she was so much taller and tougher than they
were. The boys sometimes let her play with them, but often wouldn't since
she was a girl. Haruka didn't care at all whether they accepted her or
not. When everyone else played and didn't let her in, she'd go off on her
own, running, exploring, swinging, nothing that you really needed someone
else there to do. The piano lessons her grandmother gave her had finally
wound down to a close, and Kotori had no more to teach her. Haruka still
promised to practice though, so she wouldn't lose the skills she'd acquired.
Haruka fingered the cross around her neck lightly and sighed. Her family
made sure they attended church regularly, and she was strong in her faith,
but she thought church itself was boring and pointless. She entertained
herself by watching a cute girl whose family sat a few rows in front of
them, ignoring most of the priest's talk.
Katai was making it a point to come home early tonight. Any other day,
however, he didn't seem to care if he came home at 8 PM or 2 AM. Haruka
didn't see her father much. A few months ago, when it wasn't too late at
night, she'd have long talks with him, and it always made her feel better.
Sunao wouldn't usually join in; she went to bed early, exhausted from
housework. Lately though, he'd been getting more and more wrapped up in his
work, and he never talked to her except to criticize her. Haruka hated it.
He was supposed to encourage her, not _discourage_ her. "Why can't you be
more ladylike?" "You're going to be a failure if you keep acting like _that_."
"Stop complaining, Haruka-chan, and just do it. We should have just gotten a
dog, at least they listen when you tell them what to do."
It hurt to hear those things from the father she'd once loved and
trusted. She wasn't sure now if she hated him or not, but she sure
wouldn't have a heart-to-heart with him anytime soon. Her mother wasn't
exactly close to her or distanced from her. Sunao had just recently
gotten a job and worked while Haruka was at school. On rare occasions,
she would pull a late shift, but that was only every few weeks. Haruka
spent a lot time with her, talking with her or helping her around the
house, but part of her was a bit ruffled by the "weakness" her mother
showed. Sunao wasn't exactly a joyful person. While she would smile and
laugh, her life wasn't nearly as full as it could have been. She and
Katai had drifted from each other, and even though they were still
married in legal terms, they didn't get along well anymore, not that
Katai was home enough for it to matter. She tried hard to raise Haruka,
but to Haruka, it was obvious that her mother wasn't making the usual
attempts a mother would make; the death of her newly born son had
shattered the outlook she had on the whole child-rearing process. Most
mothers would try to mold their children into the ideal, perfect kids,
to teach them as many values as they could and to prepare them for the
real world, even if it meant being harsh on them. Sunao let Haruka do
as she pleased, didn't punish her for anything, and let her form her
own opinions on issues rather than try to teach her how to see things
like life, religion, and responsibility. Haruka was given a great deal
of freedom by her mother, and Sunao's spoilings--a fairly large
allowance, letting her have her way, taking her wherever she wanted to
go--were far preferable to the strict attitude her father showed.
Sunao was very reserved, rarely leaving the house one she was home from
work, and didn't speak to many people outside of the family unless
necessary.
Haruka shook her head, clearing her thoughts as she stood up and walked
away from the piano bench. Sunao and Kotori were talking with each other
now, and Haruka was tired, so she headed upstairs for her room. She sat
down on the bed and started flipping through some manga with a bored
look on her face. She heard her mother call up to her a little while
later, "Haruka-chan, I'm staying with my parents tonight, be back
tomorrow! Tell your father where we went when he gets home, okay? Oh,
there's a tiny bit of food left, so throw together something for dinner
and I'll go to the store tomorrow."
"Yes, okaa-san! Oh, may I go down to the park later?"
"Sure! Be good, okay, and don't get into trouble!"
"I won't! Bye!"
Haruka heard the door shut and the car pull away shortly after that.
Running down the stairs, she grabbed a key for the front door to lock it
behind her as she left for the park, then took off running. She loved to
run, to feel the wind against her face as she tried to outrace it. It
didn't take long to get to the park since it was right across the street.
She slowed down a bit, heading over to the playground. She went to the
back section where the monkey bars were, on top of a tall hill that
overlooked a lake. She looked around to make sure no one else was there,
then climbing up on top of them. She crawled across to the middle, then
carefully stood, balancing on the rungs. At first, her heart pounded
quickly, her arms held out at her sides to keep from losing her footing.
Then she relaxed, closed her eyes, and stood listening to all the sounds
around her, enjoying the breeze blowing by.
She didn't know how long she stood there. Eventually, she got tired of
keeping balance, took a deep breath, and leapt off the monkey bars. For a
few fractions of a second, she was in flight, soaring with the wind. Then
of course, gravity had to spoil everything, and she landed perfectly on
her feet. She cast a quick glance down the hill at the lake, then turned
to walk back home and go up to her room again.
She went back to reading the manga until her stomach growled with hunger
about four hours later. She trudged down the stairs to the refrigerator,
barely noticing what she pulled out and stuck in the microwave. She took
it out, sat down, and ate in a hurry, then placed her dishes in the sink
and went back upstairs to read some more. After awhile, she got too
sleepy to stay awake. It was getting late, and she had school the next
day. Haruka went downstairs and wrote a note to Katai, then went back
upstairs, slipped into her pajamas, and climbed into her bed, falling
asleep quickly.
 
 
Katai did _not_ have a good day at work that day. He'd been in meetings
for a long amount of time, arguing back and forth with all the other
employees as he tried to make his view known, but everyone seemed to be
against him. He missed lunch break while he was busy typing a report,
but the report ended up being lost when the power somehow went out and he hadn't saved it yet. He started over, but missed the deadline. Then
he had to go to another meeting, and give a presentation which didn't
go over well. He left work early as planned, but got caught in a horrible
traffic jam, running out of gas while stuck in it and also getting a flat
tire driving over a nail, and had to be towed and sit for over an hour
waiting to get his car back. He got home later than he would have if he'd
left at the normal time. Since he'd also missed dinner because of the traffic
jam, he was ravenous by the time he got home. When he got home, he went
immediately to the refrigerator, wondering to himself, "Where is Sunao?"
Right now, he'd feel a lot better with her here, even if they weren't very
close anymore. He noticed a note on the fridge reading "Need to go to
grocery store ASAP." Next to that was a letter written almost entirely in
kana, indicating it written by Haruka. "Okaa-san went to her mother's house.
Will be back tomorrow."
Katai rested his head against the door and grimaced. "Can't anything go
right today?"
He looked over at the sink and saw a number of dirty dished in it. From
that, he guessed that whatever food they had before was already eaten,
leaving him with very little. He opened the refrigerator again and looked
for something, _anything_ to eat. There was a bit of turkey, some old
grapes, and several bottles of beer. Grumbling, Katai took out the turkey
and beer, throwing out the grapes. He chewed on the turkey for a bit,
guzzling a beer quickly; he was in a very foul mood, maybe it would calm
him, it usually mellowed him somewhat. He turned on the t.v. and flipped
the channel to a random show. Finishing the turkey, he grabbed another beer,
then another, losing track of how many he'd had.