A Talk of Mother & Daughter
"I'm home!" Throwing her bag on the table, Ai looked around the deserted house once before heading toward the basement, where she believed her mother was.
"Mommy!" the little girl called excitedly while entering the room. Her guess was correct as usual; through a mountain of books, a few odd chemical instruments and the latest model of a computer she could still spot a red head. "Mommy," she called again but received no answer.
Sighing, Ai walked toward the concentrating figure and tugged her white blouse. The red-haired woman pulled her eyes from the computer screen for a moment and formed a beautiful smile upon recognizing her distraction. "Come here Ai; you see this?" she pointed at the mixture of complicated formulas and figures on her computer, "I just invented this new substance. Such a fantastic material; it spreads in our veins within seconds and put us in an unconscious state that can't be distinguished from death even with modern techniques. The best part is the limitation of inner system, including lung, brain and even heart pulses…" she explained with much enthusiasm, without realizing the ridiculous situation of introducing FBI's high technology to a ten years old child.
"Mommy, you're like that again!" Ai pouted. Whenever her mother stepped into this certain part of the house, she'd forget everything but her precious chemistry. Although Ai did show some interest in that rather difficult domain for her age, being a normal little girl like every other she'd still prefer a normal, sweet mom. Come to think of it, what kind of normal mother would turn their basement to a study room, aka personal laboratory?
Noticing her daughter's sulky voice, the chemical doctor smiled apologetically and turned off the computer. She then patted the child's head and stood up, "Sorry dear, let's get out of here."
The house was not as big as their other in New York, but a comfortable and warm one. After going upstairs, Ai threw herself on the soft couch of the main room while her mother went to the kitchen to get some drinks.
"So, how was school today?" Shiho asked, handing her daughter a cup of milk and sat next to her, enjoying her own coffee. Ai could bet she had spent the whole previous night for her project down there.
"Decent. At least this time those thickheads called teachers came up with less dumb questions, which thankfully spared me from another detention because of sleeping in class," Ai replied casually while reached for her bag. She pulled out her favorite PSP and handed the rest to her mother. Shiho made it a rule to check her notes every day. It was not like she needed to, but being the careful person as she always was, Shiho made sure that her daughter was doing well.
"Hmn, maybe we should transfer you to High Intelligent Training School. Some officers have suggested to me…" she said thoughtfully.
"Well, there's no need, mommy. I'm fine with your teaching anyway. Furthermore I hate the way they study like crazy in those private schools back in America. Japanese kids are way nicer and I'm starting to make friends here," Ai removed her attention from the game machine for a moment to protest.
Shiho smiled. She definitely wasn't going to interrupt her daughter's joyful days, something that she hardly experienced through her own childhood. "If you say so."
"Thank you, mom. Oh, before I forget, one of those boring teachers had asked for you."
"Who?"
"Ran-sensei." Shiho's head jerked up from the pages. "Mouri Ran? She's teaching at Beika Elementary School? I haven't seen her since we moved to New York 12 years ago; how is she?"
"You know each other?" Ai raised her eyebrow curiously, "She was kind of freaking out when she saw me. Then she asked for mommy and daddy's names, she said that you and her were good friend back then. She really missed you two and would pay us a visit soon."
"Seem like that girl is doing well," Shiho smiled, "Is she a good teacher?"
"Looks are beyond average, but not much smarts and too violent at the same time," the little girl answered, her fingers playing rapidly at her PSP, "Her son kept trying to impress me with his idiotic skill at something called karate or whatever."
"That's because you're cute," the mother chuckled, quite proud.
"Hmn… Mitsuhiko-niichan said that too. He asked me if I'd want to be his bride when I grow up."
"Really?" The woman smirked in amusement. The lil' classmate Mitsu-chan that once flirted with her was now making a move on her daughter too?
"If I had that cool, red hair of yours I'd be much cuter." Ai's whining words gained a loving laugh from her mother. "Ran-sensei said the moment she looked at me and read my name she knew immediately that I was your daughter. What did she mean that I have the same look and name as you, mommy? Yours is not Ai."
"It was once," Ai's head shot up at the sound of her mother's melancholic voice. She has never heard this before. Shoved her PSP aside, she snuggled up to her mother. "Tell me."
Wrapping arms around her child, Shiho sighed softy. "It was once belonged to a little girl, who was always running from the darkness, trying desperately to get to the light. Her heart was ice, and her mask was iron. She believed in nothing, refused to get close to any one. She lived only in the fear of tomorrow, only with the will of revenge."
Who would think the kind and gentle mom now, had been a creature of darkness?
"And then came the boy. Surprisingly, he was her victim, the living proof of her dirty past. She had taken from him all his happiness; his love, his identity, his youth," the red-haired woman continued, "Yet he devoted his life to protect her. He'd saved her many times, from the monsters that desired her and even from her sinful self. It was also he who offered her a new life, taught her to live again."
"Sound liked the prince in shining armor," Ai commented.
"So much so for a princess which filled by misery and sorrow," Shiho smiled melancholic, "Just like her name."
"But according to the latest edition of Japanese Kanji Dictionary, AI means…" Ai said, titling her head thoughtfully.
"Your AI is different," The woman knocked her head playfully, "Yours is love. You are the child of love. The love of me and daddy, and that of special someone of yours in the future. We hope for you to be loved always and forever."
Being intelligent and logical as she was, Ai didn't like the idea of revealing too much sentiment and she knew her mother was the same. But this was an exception. She hugged her mother's soft figure and looked up with her clear blue eyes. "Daddy and I love you too, mommy."
"Thank you."
Riiiing
"Is that daddy?"
"Let's go greet him," Shiho released her daughter and watched Ai running toward the door, her shoulders-length black hair swung elegantly in the air. Wiping her wet eyes, she stood up and followed to meet the love of her life.
This was all she ever wanted.