“Tora!”
Torii sighed. Her Big Sister was at it again, pestering her about where she had been last night. The teenager just wanted to have a nice breakfast and get going, but Katya was always wanting to gossip and talk about her feelings. It was annoying. She’d admit, she enjoyed it deep down inside, but it was annoying.
Katya stood behind the kitchen counter. Her characteristic professional attire had been tossed aside for some pink short shorts and a white t-shirt, standard apparel, while a neat apron protected her thin body from getting their meal on it. She was hard at work, frying up potatoes and vegetables, bacon, and baking biscuits and sweets for later. This was how she always cooked. Katya loved to put her heart into making the best food she could, and she had an affection for meat and fried foods. She wasn’t like the other girls, who survived on thin salads and fruit. She enjoyed her food, and could still boast all day long about how she was one of the best looking women around. It made her laugh inside.
“I’m just wondering.”, She told her little sister. “You never tell me what happens. I can’t help but worry about you, you little weirdo.”
Torii had a habit of disappearing for a long while, usually on a trip or mission, or being sucked into parallel dimensions, and not wanting to tell her sister what happened when she got back. Katya didn’t understand it. Torii had literally no problem spilling out her feelings to anybody else, but she never talked about that stuff with her. “Come on.”, She said, chopping up some leftover bits of potatoes and returning them to the pile. She made her and Toriis’ plates and beckoned the girl over to eat. “Just this once? You used to tell me everything, Kid. I mean, if we live together, we should at least trust each other.”
“I do trust you.”, Said Torii, digging into her breakfast. “It’s just, I don’t know, I don’t feel like talking about it. Usually, it’s no big deal.”
“No big deal around here?”, Katya raised an eyebrow. “Tora, we live with dinosaurs and space gods. Stuff around here is kind of a big deal.”
“Yeah, well, not for me. Sorry.”, Torii replied. The two sisters finished up their meal, and Torii set out. “I’m going to go meet my friends, okay?”, She said, exiting the room. “Nothing weird.”
The door closed. Katya sighed, but said nothing, and moved over to the bed to eat and watch TV. Cartoons? She didn’t watch them a lot before, but Torii LOVED cartoons; cartoons, anime, anything that was drawn. They kind of grew on her, and now she watched them to relax, when she wasn’t watching her dramas or soap operas, or the news. While she watched TV, she was thinking. Torii really didn’t want to share with her, and that just made Katya more determined to find out anything about her sister’s personal life, so that they’d have something to share. She knew that Torii kept her diary above the bed, and so she decided that she’d just find out some info herself. She set the plate up in the kitchen, returned to the bed, and climbed up to grab the book. She ran over, locked the door, and hopped onto the bed, cracking open the book.
”Dear Diary”
She snorted. What a generic thing to write. Torii could be really generic-’90s-girly when she wanted to. Katya wondered if her friend’s knew that? She felt a little bad for what she was doing, but she kept on reading.
“I talked to Bran today...Mister Thriller is so cool...Marcus is the best….Tsu can be a real dunce....”
She snickered again. Mostly just a page of talking about her social interactions. The parts about Dora not being as bad as she thought, and Drova being “kind of cute, but also kind of stuck up” really got her attention. Finally, she ran across a little paragraph about herself.
[i]”I just can’t tell my sister about what I do. It’s not that I don’t trust her, but I don’t feel that I can talk to her well. I don’t know, maybe I’m still just kind of freaked out since Yoshi left and she got all depressed, but I felt like I couldn’t rely on her anymore. It’s different now, but still, it’s weird how those things can affect you so profoundly. I think another reason is that I don’t want her to worry about me. She has such good friends and family, and a good future. I don’t want to freak her out or ruin anything by getting her involved with my shenanigans. I can’t take care of myself. I’ve always done that. Sure, help is appreciated, but I think she can do without. I love her. I wouldn’t drag her into my trouble.”[.i]
Katya slammed the book shut. That was all she needed. It wasn’t what she wanted, but it explained it to her. She had to take a moment to let it sink in. That was why Torii was so hesitant to talk. She didn’t want to drag her into it. She wanted to protect her big sister. It was a kind thing to do. She was still upset that Torii wouldn’t share, but she could understand her little sibling’s thinking.
She still wanted to know what her sister went through. She wanted to at least know a little, and know how to comfort her about it. She carefully opened the book again and started flipping through pages. She found and read about quite a few of Torii’s exploits, and, at the end, found herself teary-eyed. Her sibling had been through a lot, and still carried on a happy-go-lucky attitude and a toothy smile. It was awesome. She set the book back where Torii left it and laid in bed for a while, just watching TV and thinking.
When Torii finally did come back, some time later, Katya was there, sitting at the foot of the bed, smiling. “Oh, you haven’t done much today.’, Said Torii, tossing her boots to the corner. “What’s going on?”, She asked. “Nothing.”, Said Katya, grinning. “Want me to put on supper?”
“Um, sure.”, Torii replied. “I’d expected you to be asking where I’ve been already.”
While Torii kicked off her shorts, Katya chuckled. “Well, I would, but I know you have your reasons for not telling me.”, She said. Torii didn’t understand, and was about to comment, but Katya had already moved forward and snatched her sister into a tight hug. “Don’t worry about it. Anyways, just relax, and I’ll put on some chicken, okay?”
“Yeah, okay…”, was Torii’s only response. Her sister was a bit different than usual. Torii was at least happy that she had given up on badgering her. Katya tied her apron back on and reached into the refrigerator. “Oh, and I only want to know what you’re up to because I’m curious about you. I want to know how your day goes, and maybe just chat about it. You know, like normal siblings?”
Like normal siblings, huh? Torii felt a little bad now. She threw herself into the bed and rested a head on her big pillows. With the room at a refreshing sixty-four degrees, Torii was happy. She watched her sister cook for some time, thinking things over and feeling more guilty before she finally spoke up. “Hey, mind if I tell you about my day now?”
Katya put the chicken in the oven, having finished preparing it and cutting up ingredients, and smiled. “Sure thing. Talk away. We still have, oh, a few minutes until I have to take the chicken out.”
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:52 am
Zombies to bytecoins. Don't know what this year's will be.
