Sunflower Mama
Petal 09 - Reckless Revelation
by StarCross
Slowly but surely, Ichiko began live fully within Rei's apartment, and only came back to her home for the occasional item she needed from her bedroom. It was very disconcerting to the whole family, especially with Rin constantly bombarding Ichiko with pressures and incentives to come back. At one point, Ichiko had been cut off from her cellular phone privileges, and yet she did not retaliate or care.
"I can just buy a prepaid set," she would say. "Or use a landline. Sure the copper quality isn't too good..."
"Rin is thinking we should cut off your allowance," said her father, Ken'ichi.
"Then that is fine by me. I'll simply get a after-school job, or leech off the allowance you give to mother every day."
"We're thinking off cutting hers off too."
"I don't care."
Ken'ichi sighed. "Rei doesn't work. All she does is lounge around buying pornography, gamble, and hit on random everyday people."
"I'm with her everyday. I make sure she doesn't do anything damaging."
"Does she even have a job right now?"
"A few temp ones. Nothing permanent."
"Ichiko, I with your mother on this one. You're better off staying with us."
"Rei is my mother, and my real family."
"Don't buy into her lies! I'm sure she has told you on generous her father was, but in reality he was bloodthirsty under the surface. She knows who your real father is, and she's only using the sexual abuse story just to entrap you."
"I can't believe what I am hearing. I thought of you to be a decent man."
"This is exactly what she wants Ichiko. She plans to take you away from a decent livelihood and back into the underworld."
"Then what if I want to be corrupted? What if I want to delve into the underworld in order to understand my mother better?"
Ken'ichi frowned. "What exactly are you two doing?"
"It's none of your business. If you'll excuse me, I have to make dinner for my real mother."
"Then what should I tell Kenji then?"
"I have a feeling he already knows."
It was not long that both Rei and Ichiko's allowance stipend were cut off. Thus, Ken'ichi ended his monthly visits and resumed focusing on the family related to him by blood. Yet the mother and daughter were not hindered by their new poverty. As a matter of fact, it only increased their determination to pull through and make the most of every cent or penny by selling off some of their unused wares, which had the added bonus of cleaning up Rei's apartment. Rei struggled each day in her various temp jobs that barely lasted a week due to a combination of her reputation and her flirtatious behavior. Ichiko was more stable at her part-time job as a waitress.
The new situation was no cause for her to miss school, let alone fall behind in her grades. She consistently remained at top, and that allowed her a chance to earn scholarships from prestigious and charitable institutions. She declined though, for although she had friends besides Kazuko and Sumiko, Ichiko remained alone throughout her school days pondering about her lack of goals and the isolation caused by her she had for her mother.
She often ate alone during lunches, and did her best to avoid Kazuko weeks after their prescribed separation. Ichiko and Rei had to work very hard to keep their relationship a secret, and if anyone was too close to finding out they had plan to retort that the outside party were having illicit and disgusting thoughts. They could no longer have lunch together on school grounds, have the fun outings with their friends, and they couldn't even go to the women's only parties. Even so, Ichiko's heart beat anxiously every school day for the warm embrace of Rei, and her worries would often disappear right when she arrived home. They would kiss, and sometimes they would make love on the spot. For them at least, they threw away the world for themselves, and that was what they wanted.
"Ichiko," asked Rei during their bedtime, in which they slept naked in each other's arms. "Have you ever thought about the future?"
"The future?"
"You know, like college, or a career. You could hook up with some rich schmuck in a sham marriage, and then kill him off."
"Let's not do that."
"Then what do you want?"
"I just want you. Just you."
"You did say that everyone or at least someone would find out. Then boom--our fun time is over."
"Rei... Mother... I intend for us to stay together forever."
"I'm working on it."
They saved enough money to have one fun excursion at the shopping district good for one weekend afternoon. They had to relieve their stress of struggling to pay for the school fees and apartment rent, the latter of which was already heavily discounted through the generosity of their transgendered landlordess.
"You know that going out is risky," said Rei. "How then we explain to the people about our constantly fondling?"
"Tell them the truth and say it's our way of showing our love for one another as mother and daughter."
"Gotcha. Man, your answers are so to the point Ichiko."
In their best street clothes they struck out after leaving the bus stop trotting with linked arms and hands, and along the way they received compliments on how cute they looked. No one questioned the closeness of their relationship as they assumed to be normal and platonic for a mother and a daughter who had not seen each other in one decade and five years.
Hunger struck them, and they went to the closest fast food restaurant for a cheap eat. Since the day was a weekend, even finding a seat for just the two of them was a challenge due to the sheer crowd, at least half of which were couples on a date. They did find two vacant seats, but there was a problem.
It was booth and table for four next to the window. Sitting across from each other were Kazuko and Sumiko, also dressed in a date.
"Hello," said Ichiko.
"Hold on," said Kazuko. She pushed her food tray to the other side and sat right next to Sumiko. This allowed Ichiko and Rei to finally sit, but for Rei's size and height it was a tight fit.
"Thank you," said Ichiko. "Although..."
"I guess you can call it a date," said Sumiko. "Got something against it?"
"Not really."
"Kazuko and I are still friends, even if I drifted apart. What's your case? Going out with your mother?"
"We are," smiled Rei.
Then there were silent and uneasy stares from the girls.
"I kid," said Rei, finally. "Of course, I am her mother and I have every right to have fun with my daughter, correct?"
"Indeed," said Sumiko.
Even amidst such background noise of the restaurant and the streets, Ichiko, Rei, Kazuko, and Sumiko ate with uneasy silence, and after they finished their meals they found themselves unwittingly hanging out with each other as they walked to the mall. Sumiko pulled ahead and linked her arm with Rei, for the two broke the fragile ice and began talking flirtatiously. It irked Ichiko, but she couldn't show her jealously that would be so indicative of her lust for her own mother. Kazuko was walking right next to her, and to let her find out would be disastrous.
"Sumiko comes back to us, and then you drift away," said Kazuko. "Would I be doing the same?"
"I didn't mean to hurt you that way," said Ichiko.
"No you didn't. We only hurt ourselves. We have been avoiding each other a lot lately, and it looks like you're having problems at home."
"I moved in with Rei."
"Oh."
"And I'm holding a part time job. I didn't mean to miss your final game."
"That's okay. We lost badly, but I'm confident we can take the national championship next year. But why have you moved? Were there problems at home?"
"Not really. I just wanted to live with my own mother."
"So there were no fights."
"No."
"I am dating Sumiko by the way, even if isn't apparent."
"Oh."
"And yet... I still can't get over you."
Ichiko sighed. "If you only knew what kind of person I really am, I'm sure you'll get over me."
"I'm not giving up."
"Then what about Sumiko?"
"She understands."
"You told her?"
"She would have found out anyway."
They both stopped by the escalators.
"Ichiko, what happening between us?" Kazuko asked. "We used to be so close!"
"Hey guys," Sumiko called from the upper level. "Hurry up! We don't want people finding out that Rei's stripping just to take off her clothes."
Ichiko turned away and joined up with Rei and Sumiko. Kazuko was behind, and in some ways so far behind from her heart. Ichiko knew the exact reason why they grew so distant, and it really wasn't Kazuko's gallant chivalry. Yet there would be no way to confess to her the relationship of a certain mother and daughter.
The childhood friends feigned their happiness in their browsing of clothes, the trying of shoes, and the smelling of cologne and perfumes. They went to many stores, yet they bought nothing. Rather, they preferred to imagine themselves moving in world in such wares however uncomfortable they might be, and they even gave each other a few joking comments.
Rei took the three girls straight into the lingerie section, and urged them to choose freely or not at all from the generous selection before their eyes. Nervously they browsed and dragged their feet as if they were shuffling on a hardwood floor, but it was Rei with her leering perverted eyes who piled onto their arms numerous underwear. Almost all were kinky, and some were flashy. Further still, Rei pushed them into the fitting rooms close to where they were, but nestled deep within the building and protected by one lone and stern female salesperson.
There were four stalls only, and they were occupied by Rei's party. It was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable for them to dress down to bare nakedness. Rei was there to protect them, but there was no protection from Rei for she slid underneath the stall walls to peek up the changing schoolgirls. Luckily, none of them were exposed when she snuck in, but although Rei would give off flattering comments every girl she saw.
"You don't seem to have any sense of shame, do you?" asked Sumiko, who had remained calm throughout Rei's sudden appearance. "You even peep at your own daughter."
"Is there something wrong with that?" Rei asked.
"I merely would like to point that out, although you seem to shower with a lot of flattering comments."
"Of course. She is my daughter."
"They're not flattering at all!" Ichiko yelled. "Mother, get back at your own stall this instant!"
"Gotta go. I won't get dinner if I don't behave."
Rei then slid from everyone's view.
"I'm finished," announced Sumiko. "Kazuko, are you coming?"
"Ooh, you two an item?" danced Rei.
"It's nothing of that sort, really!" Kazuko answered. "I mean, since Ichiko has been avoiding me and hanging out with you very often."
"I am a police officer's daughter," said Sumiko. "I'm tough, so I don't care what you say about us. You should really be more worried about how you and your daughter treat each other."
"I shall keep that in mind," saluted Rei.
Dressed back into their clothes, Sumiko and Kazuko exited the fitting rooms feeling positively embarrassed.
"That Ichiko is one lucky girl to have Rei," said Sumiko.
"If she hadn't met Rei..."
Sumiko stopped in the main aisle to turn around and face her friend.
"Kazuko," said she. "Why won't you get over her? If not me, then some other girl or boy. Hell, I wouldn't mind if you went out with Rei."
"I cannot just give up all those years I had with Ichiko."
"She's not the sweet girl you want her to be. She will be like her mother sooner or later."
"I know."
"Let's have their own fun in their own little world back there. So where to next? By now there should be seats left for that one romance movie I keep hearing about."
"Oh darn."
"What?"
"I left my purse back at the fitting room."
"Okay. Hurry up."
Leaving Sumiko, Kazuko ran past the stern and yawning saleswoman and back into the fitting rooms by the lingerie section. It seemed to be quiet when she walked down the narrow hall, but she could hear slight moaning from two. In the stall that Ichiko occupied, Kazuko could see the naked feet of two women caressing one another amidst a mess of lingerie thrown on the floor.
Ichiko and Rei must have left already, she told herself. She tiptoed through the yellow curtain into the stall she had used to retrieve her purse, and heard one burst of orgasm.
What is with these two?
"Oh, mother..."
Kazuko froze. Surely this was a joke, or that Ichiko and Rei really had left. If they did, then she should have seen them coming out. It wasn't even that long ago since Kazuko and Sumiko left.
The girl attempted to tiptoe out, and at the same time convinced herself that what was really happening in the first stall was simply her imagination, and that those two women were not Ichiko and Rei. Yet the passion between to those two was increasing as well as their muffled pleasure cries, and their voices were unmistakably recognizable.
It's a joke! Kazuko thought. She dearly wanted to run away, or at least interrupt the homosexual lovemaking, but doing so would confirm a worse fear than Ichiko falling in love with another woman. Yet there she stood, frozen and voyeuristically listening to their moaning.
Knowing this would change her life forever, if not destroy all sense of innocence she held for her Ichiko, Kazuko dared herself to peek through the crack of the stall's curtain.
There, the daughter and mother were nude, with the mother pushed to the wall. They were kissing and groping for one smooth and sensual moment, and would stare lovingly into each other's eyes. Then, Ichiko kissed her way down to Rei's vulva, and began to lick it.
Kazuko covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming and throwing up. Taking advantage of the miracle that she was not noticed, she quietly walked backwards out of the fitting room hallway and quickened once she was out. With her purse in hand, she stormed out, unknowingly passing Sumiko.
"Is something wrong?" asked Sumiko.
"I feel sick," said Kazuko.