AmeriPan Cinderella

The Life of Kiku

Kiku Honda was a not-so-wealthy girl who was living with her father in peace, until her father married a new stepmother. Kiku feared that her new mother might be very wicked, but she was wrong. Her new mother was nice. Her name was Ai-Ting. Ai-Ting already had two daughters, Mei Xiao and Lien Chung. The two girls' father already passed away. On the first few days of residing into Kiku's house, they have been bitter on the Japanese girl, treating her like a maid whenever their parents were out. After 12 years, a certain news shocked the whole family, even Kiku. There was a shooting scene on the place where her father was working and seems like her father was one of the people who gets hit by the bullet. This led the family to tears as they saw their breadwinner placed in a coffin. Kiku locks herself in her room for a week, making Ai-Ting worried.

One day, before her father's funeral, Kiku decided to go out of her room and finds Lien and Mei arguing.

"Mûqīn says the I was the one who was wearing this dress!" Mei said, pissing off his elder sister.

"No, fùqīn bought that dress for me. It's too big for you to wear. Give it to me, or I'll kill you." Lien shouted to her sister, totally pissed off.

"I won't give this to you. It's mine! Mílùle, húndàn!"* Mei harshly replied, spitting out the foreign words in her mouth. Lien had enough of it, so she took the dress from her sister and slapped her hardly, "Don't you dare say that! Bèn rén!* Méi yòng de nühái!* Nī zuì hâo mílù!*" With that, the Vietnamese stormed into her room, slamming the door. Mei was left crying, covering the tears that had fallen using her hands. Kiku walked over her, trying her best to make the Taiwanese feel better.

"Mei-chan, are you alright?" The Taiwanese glared at her, slapping the hands that held her shoulders. "Don't touch me! This is all your fault! Ni wèishéme be zhîshì sîle ma?*" She stormed off, leaving the Japanese girl. Kiku was staring into blank space, tears threatening to fall at any moment. Ai-Ting saw her standing alone, already knowing the reason. She heard all of it. She walked over to Kiku and let her cry into her shoulders.

"Zhè shi zhèngcháng de, qīn'ài de.* I'm sure that Mei was really hurt by her sister. Not to worry, I'm sure that she will get over it." Kiku nodded, wiping her tears away. "Oka-san, is it alright if I come with you today?"

The Chinese smiled. "Dāngrán.* Your fûqīn will be happy if you do." The Japanese hugged her mother. "Arigato gozaimasu, oka-san."

Ai-Ting hugged back. "Huānyíng." Kiku pulled away, and ran onto her room to change. He wore a simple black dress, with a pair of matching black shoes. She puts on her black bolero(I don't know what it's called) and walks out of her room.

Just as she was in the doorway, she saw her mother waiting, along with her mean sisters. The funeral started with them walking from their house up to the cemetery. By the time the funeral was started, Kiku's tears spilled out, crying out her father's name as best as she could. "Oto-san, dō ka watashi o oite ikanaide kudasai.* Watashi wa anata o ketsujō suru tsumorida!* Oto-san!!!"

She was being stopped by many people, but whatever they do, they couldn't stop her. All they did was watch her mourn. The crying had stopped by the time her father was buried. He walked into his room and locked herself for a few days, not bothering to go out and eat. It made Ai-Ting more worried.

One day, Ai-Ting decided to check Kiku to see if she was alright. As she opened Kiku's room door, she saw her holding a picture of her father, hugging it tightly. She walked over a little and watched her crying mournfully, still hugging the picture.

"Oto-san, why did you left? You promised that we'll be together forever. You have broken the promise." She cried harder, the sounds of her cries was heard in the entire room. Ai-Ting couldn't help but shuffle closer to Kiku and hugged her. Kiku was surprised to see the Chinese woman hugging her. She didn't mind it and hugged back, crying on her shoulders.

"O-Oka-san, w-why did he have t-t-to die? W-Why did he have to leave u-us here?" Ai-Ting felt the tears falling on her eyes, as she comforted the Japanese. "That's what life is, honey. You have nothing to do with it." Kiku understood, and she stopped crying.

~•~•~•~•~•~•the next day~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Kiku walked into the dining room to see Mei and Lien talking. Finally, they get to communicate with each other again, Kiku whispered to herself. As she sat down across them, the girls glared at her and said, "This is all your fault why fûqīn died."

Kiku was in an abrupt shock, and quickly replied. "No, it's not. I have no idea how father had died, so don't you blame me like I was a criminal." The girls gave her a 'Hmph!' sound before returning to their talk. Halfway on their breakfast, a knock on the door reverberated the whole house. Ai-Ting stood up to fetch the unexpected man, and while their mother was on the door, they spent their chances on Kiku.

"Hey, you little brat. Can you please get some spoons?"

Kiku only stared at them. "The spoons are beside you. Why don't you get them yourself?" Lien groaned in irritation, so she walked across the table and slapped Kiku's lips. "Are you trying to mess up with us, huh?"

Kiku held her lips, shook his head as he fought back the tears that were threatening to spill at every moment. She immediately followed her sister's order, and walked back to her table to eat. Later, their mother returned, eating with a smile on her face. The girls noticed it so they immediately asked their mother.

"Your father's assistant went here and said that your father's remaining wealth was still on his assistant's house. We will go there tomorrow to get the possessions."

The girls smiled in excitement, but Kiku held no expression. The family continued to eat in silence and let the day through.

~•~•~•~•~•end of Chapter 1~•~•~•~•~•~•

Hi guys. It's me. As you see, I have put some other languages there so I decided to put some asterisks(*) and maybe translate them at every end of the chapter.

Here are the translations:
-Get lost, bastard
-Imbecile
-Useless girl
-You better get lost
-Why don't you just die already?
-It's alright, darling
-Of course
-Father please don't leave me
-I'm going to miss you

That's all. The next chapter will be published, tomorrow, if I won't be busy. Well, guess that's all for now. Happy life, fluffy bunnies.

~ameripanfruk0411