I know I've only gotten one comment about characters being OOC, and don't get me wrong, I love constructive critisism, but I want to go ahead and cover my view on this. What's your basic definition of a Fan Fiction? A piece of Fiction, written by a fan of a TV Show, series, anime, game, etc. If I wanted to make all of the girls in this series transvestites and make them be Mr. Kimuras Gay Jedi Padawan Learners, I could do it. I wouldn't get alto of good feedback, but if I wanted to I could. All this started off with was a simple YomixTomo fanfic (Tales of Love at Magical Land). Then I though, 'Wait, what if something different happened? What if everyone DIDN'T accept the fact that two of their friends were gay?' So I wrote on it. It's my story and I'm sticking to it. To Defectron, I'm not insulting your opinion of my story, I welcome and encourage it. I just felt that this was an angle of my writing I needed to cover. And on with the story. Sorry for not writing lately. Easter Weekend and all that kind of thing. The walk was longer than it seemed, mainly because of the silence. As Tomo Takino and Yomi Mizuhara walked the streets of downtown suburban Tokyo, neither spoke a word. Everything that needed to be said had been said earlier, back at the train station, and small talk was the last thing on the girls minds at this point. All of their internal focus was on how to break the news of their newfound sexuality to their parents. For Tomo, this was easy. She more or less assumed that her father wouldn't really care. The only thing keeping her from being absolutely positive was the response her 'friends' had given her and Yomi earlier. It'd just gone to show Tomo, and Yomi as well, that anything can happen. For Yomi, however, the process would be much more difficult. Like Tomos' father, Yomi knew her dad probably wouldn't truly care, feeling that she was old enough to make decisions about her life, and support her One-Hundred Percent of the way. It was her mother, rather, that worried her. In the Mizuhara household, Mrs. Mizuhara was in charge of everything. Even Mr. Mizuhara listened to her. It didn't matter what Yomis' dad thought. If her mothers opinion was different, or if her judgment was different, that always took presidence over any decision that her father made. Sadly, that was just how it was, and Yomi knew that that fact would be of no help to her in coming out to her parents. But both girls had decided. They were beyond the point of no return. They'd come out to their friends, and now, whatever the consequences, their family must know as well. As agreed before, it would be that much worse if word got to them some other way. In the end, this would be the best way to tell them. But the lesser of many evils is still evil. They came to a fork in the streets, and stopped, remaining silent. This was the place where the two would usually meet, before walking to school together. If one took the left path, then one would walk about five blocks before finding the Takino Household, which usually consisted of Tomo living alone, her mother being dead and her father being away for Army reasons half of the time. This was the middle, however, of a three month span where he was being reassigned to a different location, and in that time, he'd been home with Tomo. Though the two weren't exactly the closest in the world, they shared an above average father slash daughter relationship. Tomo hoped that that relationship could stand beside her new relationship. If the same person had instead decided to take the right path, that person would walk about seven blocks before arriving on the doorstep of the Mizuhara Household. While only a one story house, it was still very nice and well kept. Mr. Mizuhara had graduated from Tokoyo University with an Agriculture Major and kept a very nice flower garden around the house. Her mother, Mrs. Mizuhara, had graduated Bible College, and held a PHD in Theology, and almost every part of Yomi knew what that meant for her near immediate future, though a small ounce of hope shined inside of her, she didn't know how much longer she could keep that light from going out. Either way, she knew what she had to do, and would do it. "Well, I guess this is a bigger choice than it looks." Tomo broke the silence, uttering the first words that either of them had said since departing the train station about thirty minutes ago. Of course, it was not nearly a thirty minute walk from this point to the train station. More like ten. But when the feeling of an impending burden lays upon your shoulders, you tend to take your time getting from Point A to Point B. At least, that was the case here. "Does it really matter, Tomo?" Yomi countered. Since the two had met at the foot of Tomos' house that morning, everything seemed to have changed. Tomo had gone from the spunky and wild one to the thoughtful one. While Yomi certainly hadn't inherited those latter traits, she had morphed from the thinker to, at least on the inside, the hopeless desperado. Her optimism had been crushed, and she did not see it getting any better. Had Tomo not been there to keep Yomis fire kindled, this story probably would have been over by now. "I think it does, and I think we should start with my house, because-" "...because my house will be hellacious when they hear this." Yomi finished the sentence her girlfriend had started. This brought a smile to Yomis face once again, as it did every time. The fact that their minds were seemingly on the same track was a constant reminder to Yomi, and Tomo too, that for their lives, they had defiantly made the correct decision Tomo returned her lovers loving smile, and nodded. With a new found confidence, the two took the left path, and began the walk to the house of Takino Tomo. Five blocks is certainly not a long walk, and with new found confidence and no more slouching, the two girls had arrived at Tomos' doorstep, the same place they had met earlier that morning, in minutes. Their confidence did not dwindle as the two walked up the steps, Tomo first, Yomi right behind her, and opened the screen door, opened the wooden door, and walked in, Yomi shutting it behind the two. If one were to walk in the front door of the Takino house, as Tomo and Yomi had just did, that person would find themselves in the family room. Two blue couches, one leather and one cloth, sat facing each other, pushed up against opposite walls. A third couch sat facing a wide screen television, and two reclining chairs on either side of it, tilted in at Forty-Five Degree angles. In the very center sat a brown rectangular table, and small end tables sat to the right of each piece of furniture. The whole setting made for a very nice looking semi-circle set up, and on a whole, the room was probably the most organized in the house, which, looking at the two who lived in it, wasn't saying much, but it was still a very well-kept room none the less. This was where the two girls found themselves, and hadn't been there for five seconds before the friendly yet stern voice of Mr. Takino sounded off to the two girls. "Tomo, Yomi!" His voice was deep, that of somebody who'd been used to yelling a lot, and by that token his voice was naturally louder than that of your average person, but that was just aftermath of being in the Army for many, many years. He waited a small moment for a greeting from the two, but then cut them off as his memory kicked in. "Hey, wait, what happened to going to the Ballgame?" He didn't offer up any of his own suggestions, he never did. He found it helped to keep his daughter from lying to him, by giving her no openings outside of the direct question he had and the answer he wanted for it. Though on this day, he was in no danger of being lied to. Tomo took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, a final preparation for the news she was about to bear. "No problem, sir." She'd been raised to address him with proper respect. Calling her father 'sir' was something she'd not forgotten to do since she was six years old, and she was not likely to forget again anytime soon. "Well, kind of..." She struggled for the words. In her mind, this was a lot easier. But now that it was actually happening, finding the words to say this just right was a challenge. The silence was uneasy, and Yomis eyes began to dart around the room. Mr. Takino folded up his paper and sat it in front of him on the table, and reaching for a bottle that was halfway full of some brownish substance. He took the lid off of the bottle before he spoke. "No problem, yet it is a problem?" He said in a half sarcastic tone. "You'll have to make up your mind if you want me to help." He leaned forward and spat into the bottle, a small amount of brown juice coming out and slowly flowing down the side of the bottle. Even though her father was madly addicted to Chewing Tobacco, he made it clear that if he had ever caught Tomo with any dip in, he would 'kick her ass until she begged for him to stop so she could wash her mouth out', in his own words. Tomo understood completely, rather than seeing him as a hypocrite as others might have. Tomo had come to the conclusion that, in the army, you will eventually become an addict of one of three things. Smoking. Chewing Tobacco, or Alcohol. Tomo was personally thankful that it wasn't drinking her father had become addicted to, and thereby didn't question anything else he did. "Though I will say," he continued after screwing the lid back on the bottle. "If it's one of those girl talks, I may not be the best person to go to, though I'll try my damnedest." "It is a girl thing, sir, but not in the way you'd expect." Tomo stated flatly. At this point, Yomi moved over and caught Tomo into an embrace, which was quickly returned by Tomo. "Sir, Yomi and I are in love." It had unfolded before Tomos' father the same way it had unfolded in front of Kagura, Sakaki, Osaka, Kaorin, and Chiyo. The silence this time, however, was short, and merely greeted by an arched eyebrow, curtosy of Mr. Takino. He unscrewed the lid off of the bottle, this time sticking his finger into his mouth to sweep out the small amount of actual dry crew that was left, and sat the bottle off to the side, meaning to throw it away later. He stood up from the couch he was on and moved over to the couch on the far right, motioning for the girls to sit where he had just sat. They quickly did so, moving from a hug to merely holding each others hands. When everyone was situated, Mr. Takino cleared his throat, and began to speak. "Now then, it sounds like you two have a story to tell. Tomo, you know not to keep anything from me, so I expect to hear the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." He leaned back into the couch and propped his feet up on the table. "I'm listening." And so the story was told. Yomi recalled first, telling about how her invitation of Tomo to Magical Land had been her plan to find the perfect place to confess her feelings to Tomo, and about how it had worked. Tomo took up next, explaining that the recent change in the habits of both girls had been due to this newfound love, and how they had successfully kept the secret for two weeks. When it came to the point of what had happened that day, there was no set person to tell it. Tomo would start a sentence, Yomi would finish. One would be talking, the other would add in quick details. Either way, collectively, the story was told in detail, neither girl having anything to hide at this point. "...and then we came here, and that's pretty much how it happened." Yomi finished the tale, and once again, the silence was short lived. Mr. Takino simply nodded. He leaned back forward, stretching his arms, cracking his neck to either side, before he once again cleared his throat, as he seemed to do every time he spoke. "Okay, and this is everything?" He looked his daughter in the eyes and questioned her. "Yes sir." Came the respectful reply from Tomo. No matter what followed, she would always see him as her father, and always would address him as she was taught. "You've left no relevant detail out?" "No sir." "And you, Yomi?" He looked at the other young woman in the room. "She's telling the truth, sir." Yomi felt that she should be giving out the same kind of respect here. Anything that didn't give him a reason to go off was beneficial in this situation. Mr. Takino nodded again. "Alright, then here's my two cents on it. I didn't interrupt you during your story, so like it or not, you get to hear my opinion on this." He paused, and those words didn't sound good to either Tomo or Yomi. Fortunately, this was the first time that day that they would be pleasantly surprised. "It is not my place to tell you this is something you can't do. Your gonna be a Senior in High School, Tomo. I'd like to think you're old enough to start making your own decisions Yomi, you're not mine, but you've hung around here so much, I'd like to think that I know you well enough to say the same." "Thank you." Yomi bowed while sitting. Both girls had expressions of hope on their faces. Finally, something was going their way. "No problem. That being said, I would gladly support you two. If you two think this is what is best for you two, or what you want, then I'll be right there beside you." That was it, that was something they'd finally wanted to hear. It wasn't all in vain after-all. "However..." They should've known it wouldn't be that easy. "However?" The girls said in Unison. They were dreading this. Why could Tomos' father not have finished there? "However, it turns out I cannot." He held up a hand to silence the questions he knew were coming. "I got a letter today. I'm being sent back to America, and I have to head out tomorrow. It's a long term reassignment. I'll be stationed in four different cities over the next Two Years. Tomo, this should be nothing new to you." "It's not, sir." Tomo sighed. This would mean he couldn't support them, even though she knew he wanted to. "However however." He said to jokingly contradict himself. "The two of you are welcome to this house anytime you want. Tomo, you already know that since I can't be here half of the time, bills are drawn from my Military Check, which at my rank is a rather large sum. Now that doesn't mean that you two can take advantage of that, it just means you can call this your home. Anything new you want to buy that would require bills, the money will have to come from you two. As for what we already have, it's already covered, and will stay that way." He finished, and Tomo and Yomi did indeed look pleased. "Now then, did that brighten your alls day any?" "Yes sir!" Again, their reply was in unison. Mr. Takino smiled. "Well, good." He stood up. "Now then, I imagine y'all are hungry. Want to come help me cook up some lunch?" The answer almost came out as the affirmative, but then, they remembered. Tomo and Yomi likewise stood up, bowing respectfully. "We'd love to, sir," Tomo started. "But now we have another set of parents to tell." Mr. Takino didn't quite look as happy as the girls did now. "You're going to tell Koyomi Senior?" He stated, referring to Yomis mother, whom she was named after. Her technical name was Koyomi Mizuhara Jr, but seeing as how she went by the nickname 'Yomi', that technicality never came into play. "Yes sir, we are." Yomi sighed halfway, trying to keep the hope alive. Mr. Takino caught this, and silenced himself. "I see, well, good luck with that girls. Remember, you two are always welcome here." He smiled, and the gesture caused Yomi and Tomo to smile back, as they once again bowed. "Thank you very much, sir." For the third time, they had spoken at the same time. With that, the two laced the fingers of their hands, and walked out the door, this new ray of hope finally present. Maybe Yomis' parents would be the same way. I mean, they had living proof now, that not everyone would hate them. As they walked back in the direction of the fork in the path, the two had almost reassured themselves that Yomis' parents would react in the same way Tomos' dad would. It happened once against small odds, maybe it could happen again against bigger odds. Somebody should have taught these girls why lightning never strikes the same place twice in a row. Authors note: I was doing my best to keep the parents unnamed, but in this situation, I didn't see a way I could keep her nameless without excluding the Dialog from Tomos' dad. So for this fan fiction, Yomis' mother is Koyomi Mizuhara Sr. Hey, it's never named in the series, so no reason I can't toss out a name. Anywhoo, now that my writing drought is over, stay tuned for Chapter Six, Coming Soon! Same Azumanga Time! Same Azumanga Channel!
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