Family's Family

"Well, actually..." Taylor said, as if she was considering not telling Johnny the next part. "I wanted to ask your mom something."

She stepped out of the cab, and for the walk from the car to the house she felt better, like herself and not the disgrace of a woman Ichiro seemed to see. A gentle breeze ruffled the skirt of her dress around her thighs, and she strode confidently with high-heels clicking on the walkway. She knew she looked good, and it called back the confidence that she had stage and in a ring, in front of cameras. She was always comfortable in front of people, and she always liked cameras because she never felt like there was a part of her she needed to hide from them. She wasn't afraid of anything, and when she wanted something, she went for it.

She paused just inside the front door and stepped in close to Johnny. She hold onto the sides of his t-shirt and pulled him in, and spoke softly. "Hey, so, would you mind maybe being solo for tonight? Would that be okay?" She said with an adorable smile, peering up at him with seductive blue eyes. "I promise I'll make it up tomorrow night," she said, in a sexy, throaty purr.

"Uh... ok..." Johnny said as he heard Taylor's words, He paid the cabbie and followed her to the door. Why did she need to say that? She could ask her anything she wanted. It was cool. Johnny shrugged and let it go until she stopped and turned around.

he stopped when she grabbed him and was frozen as she looked up at him. "Uhh..." He grinned sheepishly. "Yeah.... I guess... You make it kinda hard when you say it like that though, babe." He leaned in to kiss her, grabbing onto her tightly and kissed her deeply. "I'll go crash at bro's house. It's been a while since we hung out anyway."

He smiled at her. "I just hope that when I come back, both of you are still alive and kicking. I mighta lost one parent today, I don't wanna lose them both, dude." He grinned widely and nodded at Taylor. "Call me if you need anything. Give me a ring when it's safe to come back." He said and waved to Taylor. He wouldn't mind walking to Mamouru's apartment. It would kill some time and make sure he got in a little bit of exercise.

Taylor grinned and stood on her toes to give Johnny a kiss. "Thanks, Jun Bug. I promise I won't kill her. I'll text you tonight."

She gave him a squeeze and then strolled into the house to announce herself. "Helloooooo? Where are you? You could've warned me that his dad was a total dickbag man-cunt. Couulld've gone better..." She walked into the kitchen and idly opened the fridge. She didn't get to finish her dinner, and she was still a bit hungry.

Junko was busy cleaning the house when Taylor came in. She was in the bedrooms putting clean sheets into the linen closet when she heard Taylor's words. From nearly the other side of the house, there was an audible groan and loud stomping towards Taylor's direction.

"I-chi-roooooooo!" The shrill voice echoed as Junko had phone in her hands and dialing as she stepped into the kitchen. She shoved it against her shoulder as it began to ring. "You were so interested in seeing him that I didn't want to spoil the surprise." She said trying not to sound like she was saying 'I told you so.' She was behind Taylor and giving her shoulders a comfortable squeeze.

"Taylor-chan, I'll whip something up for you." She said and then turned around.

<Higurashi Ichiro! You think you can treat our daughter like some rude foreigner and keep your phone on voicemail!? You and I are going to have a serious talk! She is the love of your son's life and will be the mother of our granchildren! What right do YOU have to treat her in anyway other than->

Junko growled and hung up the phone only to turn it back on and redial it. "Kisama." She muttered as she waited for the phone to ring again.

"Excuse me, dear." She said as she pushed passed Taylor and started to grab a few things out of the fridge. <Ichiro, if you think you can just slink away from me, you've got another thing coming. We WILL discuss this even if I have to scour Japan to find where you're hiding!>

Junko flopped her items on the counter and hung up the phone. She sighed with exhaustion and then turned around to smile at Taylor. "So, Taylor-chan, how about some dumplings? They won't take long at all and are super tasty!" She then paused. "Oh... where's Junichi-kun?" She hadn't even noticed that he wasn't with her.

"Heh. Yeah, well..." Taylor said. The surprise was certainly still intact when she met the guy.

"Oh, you don't have to..." She began to protest Junko's offer of food, but Junko's outpouring of rapid, angry Japanese stopped her short. She didn't catch every word, she was going a little fast and it was harder when Japanese people were talking to other Japanese people. She wondered if they dumbed things down for foreigners, or if she was just being paranoid.

"Oh... you don't have to..." She muttered wearily, and looked at the floor. She felt like a tall, lanky teenager standing there with Junko taking care of business on her behalf. She really didn't need to do that, Taylor was perfectly capable of fighting her own battles.

"So, was that..." She began again when Junko hung up the first time, and then was suspended in awkward silence while the phone rang again. Another burst of angry Japanese and she was done.

Taylor gave her a bashful, apologetic smile. She felt stupid now, knowing what Ichiro was like, for ever having expected... whatever she had expected. "Oh, that's okay, I can cook. A little. I... gave Johnny the night off." She felt like she had just invited Junko to a slumber party.

She stepped forward and reached for the food. "Please, let me. Or at least let me help." She just couldn't feel like she was doing nothing.

"Oh? It's just us girls tonight then?" She said and giggled. "Taylor-chan." She said and pulled out some packages of dumpling wrappers. She handed them off to Taylor. "Get these ready while I make the mix." She said and began to pull out a few more things. "Right now just get out a cookie sheet and some parchment paper and lay them out. Let me know when you're done!" She said, pointing to where Taylor could find those items while she did the rest.

"So, Tayor-chan." She said as she began to work, "What exactly DID happen with Ichiro? I can only guess but I hope I didn't just tear his head off because of something that was similar to our little disagreement."

"Heh. Well..." Taylor trailed off as she fished out a baking sheet and began arranging things on the counter. She'd attempted dumplings before. They tasted alright, but she couldn't get the hang of closing them neatly. She didn't care much about how her food looked, but maybe Junko was particular about that sort of thing.

Then she had to blush. "Noooo..." She said. "Sorry. About earlier. I... didn't know what to do, and... yeah. But Mr Fuji told me I was a disgrace, and I'll never be part of the family, and that he thought he had failed as a father because Johnny picked me." She was breezy and cheerful about it, but it was evident that the words hurt even to recall. "So..."

She separated out a few dumpling wrappers and neatly lined them up on the tray while he mind drifted off.

Junko was busying herself making the dumpling filling when she heard Taylor speak. There was an audible clang of her scoop hitting the counter. Junko was immediately on Taylor, hugging her tightly from behind. "No...." She said as she squeezed. "No, no, no. Don't listen to him! You'll always be part of this family, Taylor-chan." She said and released her from the hug.

She sighed went back to work, grabbing a small dish of water and getting the steamer set up. She hauled her dish of filling and sat next to Taylor. "Just a little bit of water on the two sides. Do you want to scoop or fold?" She asked.

"Ichiro..." She said, feeling the need to fill Taylor in. "He wasn't always like that. I don't even know if he really IS like that. I don't really know. I do know that his family felt the same way about me as he seemed to feel about you. And I AM Japanese." Junko frowned. "Maybe he just needs some time to get used to you. Maybe he's been influenced too much by his family these days. There's a lot to it, I'm sure but don't you worry. I'll work him over. Even if I can't get him to change his tune, I'll give him hell as long as he wants to act like he's from times past!"

Taylor was taken by surprise by Junko's hug. She stiffened at first, but she quickly melted into it. She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, and felt the pin pricks of tears starting in the corners of her eyes.

Then the hug was over. She wished it wasn't, but she blinked away any sign of tears and quickly pulled herself together. "S-er, fold." Her first instinct was to avoid the thing she wasn't good at, but it just wasn't in her to admit defeat. Even to dumplings.

"Yeah, I dunno... I don't know if I want to be close enough to find out!" She said. "But... I mean, I'm not going anywhere. He can learn to deal with it. How do I... this?" She held up her damp and sticky fingers, unsure of how to fold the dumplings in such a way as to make them not suck.

Junko nodded and patted Taylor's hand. "It's just like this." She said as she dipped her finger in water and did one of the dumplings for Taylor. Then she started scooping the mix onto the dumpling wraps for Taylor to do.

"Well, good. I don't want you going anywhere. You're so sweet." Junko giggled. "Are you going to confront him again?" Junko asked, shifting back tot he task at hand. "I know I am." Junko sighed. "When we were young, he was so vibrant and full of life. He didn't care about who I was, he just loved me for me. I don't really know what happened but..." Junko stopped. "Taylor-chan." She said softly. "I hope you don't think I'm worried that the same thing might happen between you and Junichi-kun. I don't. Mamouru-kun and Junichi-kun was what kept Ichirou and I together for so long but, I did love him. I still do ... part of me at least. The same things that he's a bastard for now.... on the opposite side of the coin, they made him ...." Junko purred. "Delicious." She said coyly and winked at Taylor.