Read or Die, or Maybe Just to Dream
The sun was just setting over the busy city, the fiery light
gradually fading away. Sumiregawa Nenene smiled to herself slightly,
listening fondly to the sound of Anita and Michelle arguing, and the
soft noises coming from Maggie in her closet-bedroom. "It's gotten
noiser..." the light brown haired author murmured softly as she
stretched out, "but that's all right."
The table out there on the balcony gave a nice view of the
city, and apparently the two eldest sisters thought it was a good
place to sit down and read, too. Nenene leaned forward, her book
design locket dragging a bit on the table and reached out to gently
trace the bindings of the books that they had placed out there,
thinking of the bookshelves that were now popping up in the oddest
places all over her home. Even the bathroom now had a few books
tucked away in the medicine cabinet, she assumed in case of an
emergency.
Nenene got up reluctantly, leaving the view behind, moving
through the clean living room and up the stairs. The argument just
down the hall seemed to be dying down now, and she smiled to herself
as she returned to her own bedroom. The computer sat at her desk,
surrounded by all of her work materials, and she felt a flash of
guilt at not having at least tried to write today.
The white screen was blank as she sat before the computer,
almost as blank as her thoughts. Then Nenene's eye was drawn to the
photo sitting nearby and she picked it up, smiling a bit sadly. A
younger version of herself made the traditional 'V for victory'
pose, while a cutely befuddled looking black haired woman stood
right beside her.
"Yomiko," Nenene murmured softly, her expression sad.
It was an old saying, that you didn't know what you had
until it was gone, and Nenene had come to feel the truth of that in
her heart and soul. When Yomiko Readaman had vanished that day, she
had taken so much of Nenene along with her. For a long time her
creativity, her joy, her vigor, they all seemed to just fade away.
It was almost ironic, considering how they had first met.
The oddly cheerful substitute English teacher had babbled to them
happily about book reports when she was introduced to the students,
and later on Nenene had all but ordered her to go outside and put a
stop to the construction workers that were disturbing her
concentration.
Typing away on two laptops at the same time, working
frantically, then Nenene was suddenly stuck. It was something that
was outside her experience, something she had never experienced
before that she now needed to write about. As Yomiko walked back in
Nenene had pulled her close, and then pressed her lips to the
startled young woman's.
Nenene smiled to herself fondly at the memory. The stunned
look on Yomiko's face had been priceless as Nenene turned to go back
to her typing, the phrase she needed in mind. A faint blush colored
her cheeks, and she reached up to touch her lips thoughtfully.
Yomiko had been her very first kiss, and oddly she didn't regret it
at all.
Nenene's life was rather exiting in it's odd way, and she
found Yomiko using her unique skills as a paper master to protect
her. They gradually became part of each other's lives, watching over
each other while pursuing their two greatest passions. Yomiko
devoured all of Nenene's books, her eyes sparkling with enjoyment,
and Nenene so enjoyed seeing the happiness she brought to her friend
that she wrote even more.
One incident stuck in her memory, the moment where things
began to change. She had come back from a book signing abroad,
calling Yomiko at her home. Oddly, there was no answer. Growing
concerned, Nenene went over to Yomiko's, carefully navigating the
book lined stairs to reach Yomiko's home. The door was unlocked, and
for an instant she was tempted to scold Yomiko about it, but seeing
the gently crying woman stilled any harsh words.
Yomiko couldn't seem to tell her very much about it, but she
spoke of meeting a beautiful woman named Nancy. Nenene was badly
shaken by the sudden surge of jealously she had felt, but she drove
it away while trying to comfort her friend. It seemed that Nancy was
gone, never to return, leaving Yomiko with a badly broken heart.
Cradling the older woman close to her, just letting her cry herself
out, Nenene wished with all of her heart that she could protect
Yomiko.
"Hell of a job I did at that," Nenene muttered to herself
softly.
Over the time Nenene had known her Yomiko had disappeared on
her before, of course, for her mysterious 'other job.' But she
always returned home, if a few days or even a couple of weeks later.
But the weeks stretched on into months, and the months to years, and
all that time there was simply no trace of her friend.
'Friend,' Nenene thought to herself glumly. When she and
Anita, or Chibiko as she liked to call the little girl, had talked
in the Hong Kong rain, she had called Yomiko that. But the truth is
that Yomiko was much more to her than just a good friend.
"I wonder if you knew about how I felt," Nenene picked up
the photo and looked at it sadly, "you could be pretty clueless
about things like that at times." Much more softly she added, "When
I see you again, I'll tell you."
Nenene yawned, looking at the blank screen, then at the
clock. Obviously, she wasn't going to get any writing done tonight.
She got up from her chair, stretched until she heard her back pop
slightly, then turned to go to bed. A few steps, then she stopped
cold.
Returning to the keyboard Nenene leaned over and typed out a
few words, then tumbled into bed. Soon she was snoring away, the
words still glowing on the screen: "Yomiko, I love you."
Dawn came far too soon, and Nenene stumbled downstairs
tiredly. She looked into her small bathroom and just had to smile.
Dressed in various kinds of night-clothes the tall, black haired
Maggie, the more average sized green haired Michelle, and the red
haired little girl Anita all brushed away at their teeth in almost
perfect synch, just like they had the last two mornings.
"Are you going to do this every morning?" Nenene had to ask.
The three picked up their glasses of water and rinsed
together, then with a slight blush Maggie murmured, "Probably."
"Heh," Nenene smiled slightly as she elbowed her way to the
sink. "Who's turn is it to make breakfast today?" she asked as she
grabbed her toothbrush.
"Mine," Michelle sighed.
Nenene paused in her brushing, smirked and looked down at
Anita to say, "Then I hope it's better than Chibiko's was."
"Hey!" the little girl lunged at Nenene angrily as her two
sisters grabbed her by the arms and then bodily dragged her away.
"You know," Nenene mused softly, "I could get used to this."
End.
Authors Note: This begins at the end of the third episode of ROD the
TV series. Some of the material for this comes from the ROD manga,
about when Yomiko first met Nenene, as well as the OVAs. My thanks
go out to www.readordie.org for the manga translations. I may expand
on this story a bit, after I see episodes number four through six of
the new series, but I really wanted to write something on Nenene and
Yomiko now...
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