Fan Fiction ❯ Fighter's Crusade: Project Epsilon ❯ Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

"Hitomi……Hitomi, wake up."

"Ungh, five more minutes Mom," Hitomi said as she rolled over in her bed, pulling the covers over her head. She tried to force herself back to sleep, but it was Saturday and the light from the mid-morning sun was too intense. Hitomi sat up in bed and looked at the clock. It read ten, zero, seven. Still kind of early for her to be getting up. She heard footsteps down the hall floor and looked to the door, as if waiting for someone to enter. The doorknob twisted around, and the door slowly opened.

"Hitomi? Are you awake yet?" her mother said, poking her head into Hitomi's room.

"Hai Ohayo."

"Ohayo," her mother responded, "are you feeling ok?"

"Yes."

Her mother sat on the bed next to her.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked while taking a hairbrush from the small oak nightstand next to the bed.

"For the most part," Hitomi answered while her mother started brushing her hair.

"Did you dream about boys?" her mother asked her with a smile.

"Mother!" Hitomi choked out.

The question was sudden and she was still half asleep.

"I'm seventeen, but I'm not always thinking about boys," she said defending herself.

"Well, you should, that and getting married."

Hitomi pouted her lips and turned to face her mother, slightly disrupting the rhythm of the hair brushing.

"Why are you picking on me so early in the morning?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see how your love life is going."

"Well, it's none of your business," she mumbled to herself.

"I'm just looking out for my daughter, Hitomi-chan," her mother said, giving her a hug.

When she had finished embracing her, Hitomi's mother looked at her. "A fine young woman," she thought to herself, "a bit of a tomboy though." Her mother continued to brush her hair and Hitomi start to fall asleep again. Her mother saw that she was dozing off, and gave a slight tug on Hitomi's hair. Hitomi opened her eyes wide and gasped, the hair pulling snapped her back to full alert.

"You've slept enough," her mother told her as she started braiding her hair. Hitomi knew that her mother was sharp about getting things done. That's the way she had always been, and if you were asleep than you can't get anything done. Her mother finished braiding her hair and tied it off with a white piece of small cord that was burnt at both ends to keep it from unraveling. Her parents never bought anything they could more or less make themselves. Something to tie your hair with was something they could do themselves.

"Now, get dressed, your father and I are going jogging and he wants you to come with us." With that, her mother got up and walked towards the door.

"Hai," Hitomi said as her mother left the room and shut the door behind her. Hitomi swung her legs over the edge of the bed and let them hang and lowered herself onto her pair of red house shoes. She slipped her feet inside and made her way over to her closet. She could still feel the cold hardwood floor even through the house shoes. She opened her closet, and another full-body mirror projected her figure back to her. She examined herself. She was wearing a white tank top, that hung loosely over her, and pair of gray sweat shorts.

She stretched out, raising her arms above her head, and yawning at the same time. She continued to stretch until she felt loose and limber enough to do some physical activities. Hitomi scanned her closet, and there were lots of clothes, but for a girl her age she estimated it was an average amount. There were a lot of casual clothes; they largely outnumbered the amount of dress and formal wear that seemed to hide itself in the depths of the closet.

There was a knock at the door.

"Hitomi, " it was her mother," Hitomi, it's cold outside, so wear something warm."

Hitomi reached into her closet and pulled out a pair of gray sweatpants and draped them over the closet door. Then she reached back into the closet, moved some clothes around, and found a gray sweatshirt and pulled it on over her tank top. She reached for the pants, and positioned them so she could put them on. Then she tactically took her right foot out of the house shoe, slipped her leg through the corresponding leg of the pants, and once her leg was all the way through, slipped her foot back into the house shoe. She repeated this tightrope act for the other leg and once she had finished, she checked herself over in the mirror.

"No extreme bodily changes, no rips or holes in my clothes, everything looks satisfactory," Hitomi said to herself. These checks were necessary because Hitomi also knew that her father would no stand for things like that, she figured it was because he was ex-military.

x x x x

That's how he came to meet her mother. Her father, Hans, was in a special protection service for hire, that he always referred to as "The Crew". They were similar to a mercenary or a Soldier of Fortune, but not as rough or heartless. More or less it was a beefed up version of a bodyguard. Hans was from Germany, born and raised there, learning early in life that you needed to work, and work hard to survive. Hans' grandfather taught him wilderness survival, it was sort of a hobby to him, he never really thought he'd use it, and he learned Karate from the tutelage of his mother, who spent 20 years traveling abroad. But Hans' family never had enough money to go around, and so when Hans had the chance to join The Crew at the age of 19, after seriously debating the choice with his parents, he joined. His parents were strongly opposed to his decision, but The Crew would pay him, and for his training, room and board, and anything else he needed. Five years later he took a job protecting the President of a newly formed technology corporation called DOAtek. The President was to take a trip to Tokyo, Japan and Hans was to protect him for the two weeks that he was there. He met Hitomi's mother, and his soon to be wife, Maki Yamazaki, at a university the President was visiting. When Hans had to go back, they kept in touch with each other has much as possible. Maki's parents were strongly opposed to their relationship, but she kept in contact with him nevertheless, and two weeks later, she had arranged to move to Berlin with him. Shortly after, Hans quit The Crew and took two teaching jobs at local Karate dojos, to support himself and Maki.

Two years later, Hitomi Barrens was born in Munich, Germany on May 25th. Hans didn't want her to experience the same hardships and tough times as he had endured, and Maki wanted her to have some of the tradition Japanese values and thinking that would help her stay strong and sturdy in a degrading and immoral society. So they both decided to raise her in a manner that would keep their daughter safe from the dangerous world around her.

x x x x

Hitomi walked towards the front entryway of the house, where she knew they'd be waiting for her. She reached the door, and stepped out of her house shoes, and barefoot she went outside. Hans and Maki were waiting for her.

"Ohayo," said Hitomi as she joined them.

"Ohayo," replied her mother.

Hitomi was a little taller than her mother, Hitomi being five-three, her mother was close to five foot even. Maki had long straight black hair that was tied back in a ponytail as compared to Hitomi's brown hair that was now braided by her mother. Maki still looked good and was in good shape for being forty four years of age, her skinny but not sickly skinny build might deceive the average person and not put her a day over thirty.

"Oheho ," said her father. Hans' Japanese wasn't as good as Hitomi's or Maki's, but had Maki taught him enough to hold a conversation, enough to get him by. It just had a real strong German accent. Hans was a tall five-ten, easily dominating Maki and Hitomi. With his dirty blond hair and dark blue eyes, he could look tough and intimidating if he hadn't shaved for a while. Hans had a strong and built body, that would probably not give him the appearance of a forty-seven year old.

"Hay ," mumbled Hans as he handed Hitomi a pair of ankle weights.

Hitomi did not take the weights at first, but instead looked at them and gave Hans a disappointed look.

"Do I have to?" she half-whined.

"Do you want to be strong?" Hans asked her.

Hitomi nodded and took the weights from him. They weren't as heavy as she thought, until she secured them to herself.

"Let's go," said Hans as he started off down the street. Maki started behind him, but quickly caught up and matched pace with him.

Hitomi tried to move. Her legs were a lot heavier with the ankle weights. She could see her parents getting further and further away, and a damp fog crowd her view as clouds rolled in overhead. She tried moving again, but it seemed like her legs were getting heavier. She reached out to her parents, but they neither slowed down nor took a backwards glance to check on her.

"Ah, wait - er, chotto mateo ," Hitomi choked out as her parents disappeared into the fog. She collapsed on her hands and knees onto the ground, her eyes welling up with tears. It had been so long since Hitomi had seen her parents and she missed them so much. She did not want to cry, but could not stop the flow of tears down her face, to her chin, and onto the rough cobble street.

"Mother…..father," she cried, "wait for me."

x x x x

Lee walked into his room and checked on Hitomi was lay on his bed in a dreamlike state. He crouched on the floor, took a washcloth from a basin on the floor, wrung it out, and placed it on her forehead. Her eyebrows and eyelids flinched slightly, like they had been doing for the past day since the Shakedown had been raided, and she collapsed. Lee stood up and left the room to go into the kitchen to obtain a soda. A minute later he returned with a can, and stood in the doorway to observe Hitomi. Adams had given him as much time as he needed to look after her, but Adams would have much rather taken her to a hospital. Lee knew otherwise. He knew that the gang that tried to ambush Hitomi was also part of a much larger crime syndicate, and that they would follow her to a hospital as well.

When he was about to take a drink from the soda can, Hitomi gasped and opened her eyes.

"Good mornin' Sleeping Beauty," Lee said casually with can of soda still to his lips. Hitomi sat up, but grabbed her head because of the draining of blood caused her to feel nauseated and disoriented.

"Ungh, my head," she moaned.

"Yeah, you've been out for about a day now," Lee told her.

"Where am - ," she cut herself short, and looked at her clothes. They were not the same clothes she had last known herself to be wearing, but a large and baggy gray t-shirt.

"HEY!" she yelled at Lee angrily, "what the hell's up with this!? Where are my clothes!"

Lee could see where this was going.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down and I'll explain the whole thing," Lee said as he raised his free hand defensively. Hitomi gave him an angry stare.

"You'd better have a damn good reason Lee, if not, you'd better be prepared for an ass-kickin'," she told him sternly.

"You're one to talk, you're in no condition to fight," he yelled back at her.

"But I can still kick yours," she said throwing back the covers of the bed.

She stood up from the bed, and started leaning to the left, but quickly jutted her foot out to correct herself. She was still a little drowsy and her head drooped down towards the floor, and that's when she noticed she wasn't wearing any pants. The shirt went down low enough not to expose anything, but the fact remained; she wasn't wearing any pants.

"Lee, where are my pants?" she asked him calmly.

"Your clothes are being washed," he replied as calm has he had always been.

"Lee, what happened?" she asked again, still in the calm voice. She probably had this state of mind from pure shock, her waking up in a strange bed, with strange clothes, and no pants.

"If you lay back down I'll tell you," Lee said.

Hitomi obeyed, laid back down on the bed and pulled the covers up to her waist.

"Now listen," he said, "the group of guys you had a little fun with back at the Shakedown, they have ties to a bigger syndicate called `Red 32', who run everything from weapons to drugs, all up and down the West Coast. If I hadn't of pulled your limp body out from behind the bar you'd be dead. And if I hadn't of tripped that one guy towards you, he probably would of killed you, or done worse."

Hitomi remembered tripping one of those monsters into the steel pillar. She remembered a little further back, to right before the stumble.

"The flash of white, that was you?" she asked trying to sound amazed.

"Yeah."

"You're fast."

"Yeah."

"Lee, if you did anything to me while I was out, I swear I'm gonna kick your -," she was interrupted by another body as it entered the room.

"Don't worry, he didn't do anything," the body told her.

Hitomi adjusted her eyes and a female figure came into view.

"Who -," Hitomi started but was interrupted by the person.

"I'm Sarah Cleveland, I'm a friend of Jann's," she said. "I'm a local doctor here, and business has been kinda slow, so when he called me up about you, I headed over," Sarah continued.

Sarah was middle-aged, mid height woman with short brown hair, and a sort of motherly voice. She came across to Hitomi as a real easygoing person, who had a relaxing aura. When she came into the room, it made her feel relaxed.

"So," Hitomi said, sounding annoyed.

"Listen," Lee said," when Sarah got here you were running a fever, having trouble breathing, and unconscious. If you'd of stayed in that tear gas any longer you probably would have died. How about showing us a little more gratitude, oompa loompa."

Hitomi shot him one of those "woman's stares."

"To her yes," she said nodding her head towards Sarah, "to you however, I don't know how I got in these clothes, I still don't know if you did anything to me while I was out, and if you don't quit making short jokes, I'm gonna kick your butt. And I still don't know if you took advantage of me or not."

"He didn't," Sarah explained," I changed your clothes, and have been here with Jann the whole time, so relax honey. I can give him a physical to check him out and see if he did anything," she said smiling to Hitomi.

The Doctor turned to Lee.

"Could you leave us alone for a bit?" she asked him.

"Sure, sure," he said and left the room and shut the door behind him with the soda can to his lips.

Sarah turned back to Hitomi. She could tell Hitomi was scared and confused by these events.

"Listen honey, I know this must be awkward for you, but listen to me for a minute," Sarah told her.

She nodded in acknowledgment.

"Now," the Doctor continued," when I got here, Lee had you lain out on the couch with an icepack on your head. He told me that you collapsed after inhaling the tear gas. Is that right?"

Hitomi tried to remember, recalling the cloud of smoke and nodded her head.

"I figured as much," Sarah said," I think you have a severe allergic reaction to something in the gas, maybe chlorine. Do you know if you have any other allergic reactions to anything?" she asked Hitomi.

She shook her head.

"I figured that too," Sarah said to herself.

"Now about your clothes," she explained," I could not have you in those clothes for, well, we didn't know how long you'd be out, and you were going to overheat in those clothes you had on," she paused," so I had Jann help me carry you to the bathroom, and after he left and I had locked the door, I stripped you down. I ran some cool water into the tub, heh, and had a time trying to get you into it. But after having you in there for about ten minutes, and washing you off, your temperature had gone down a little, but it was still pretty high. I managed to pull you out of the tub, sat you down, and ran some hot water through the shower to steam up the bathroom. That seemed to help with your breathing. I took Jann your clothes and told him to wash them, and he gave me a towel and that baggy shirt you're wearing now."

All this took a few seconds to sink in and Hitomi thought about all the events she had just been informed about. Then it hit her.

"So who's underwear am I wearing?" she asked Sarah.

"I went out a bought you some underclothing. They're really cute, and look good on you." The Doctor winked to Hitomi.

"You can keep them," The Doctor told her.

"Thanks."

There was a knock at the door followed by Lee's voice.

"Hey, can I come in?"

"Sure," The Doctor said towards the closed door.

Lee opened the door and walked in with Hitomi's folded clothes in his arms. He walked over to his bed and plopped them down in front of her. "Here's your clothes," he said to her. Hitomi looked at her clothes, quickly snatched her underwear out of the pile, and hid them protectively under the covers with her.

"Lee no baka," she mumbled to herself. Lee shrugged.

"Your problem," he said as he sat down on the bed.

"I need to ask you some questions," he told Hitomi.

"Yeah, and?" she replied roughly.

"Get off my case twinkie," he said getting angry," if it wasn't for me who pulled your limp ass out of the bar, you probably -," he stopped short when Sarah placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Lee, give her a break, it's not her fault. She's just scared," Sarah whispered into his ear.

Lee's face turned from anger to serious contemplation. He turned to Hitomi who had sat up on the bed staring at him with an angry face.

"Hitomi, I need to know if those people know where you live. If they do, I can't let you go back to your apartment," Lee told her.

"Why!?" Hitomi said in an angry shock.

"Because if Red 32 knows where you live, they'll stake it out and wait for you. If you need something you'd be better off letting me or Sarah go and get it."

"I'd like to have my clothes."

"Is there anything else you need?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"There's a pink headband on top of my dresser. I need that too."

"What's a headband," asked Lee, confused. Sarah stopped him.

"Don't worry honey," she told Hitomi, "I'll go get it for you."

"Thank you," she replied.

"What's a headband?" Lee asked again, putting more emphasis on the fact that he was still at a loss about this object.

"Don't worry about it, Jann sweetie," Sarah told him, "I'll go get it so you don't have to worry about it."

Hitomi looked at Lee. He was hunched over the bed, straightening the covers. As he came by her, she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him towards her.

"Lee honey," she said in a loving voice, "LEAVE THE ROOM."

"Yes ma'am," he replied and left the room shutting the door behind him.

"What's up?" The Doctor inquired.

"I'm getting dressed," Hitomi said as she sat up from the bed and tried to pull off the t-shirt. It was too big and awkward for her and as it caught on her elbows, it disoriented Hitomi even more and she fell on her side on the bed.

"Lemme help you with that," The Doctor giggled.

x x x x

Lee walked into his living room and carefully sat down on his couch so he didn't spill the soda in his hand. He took a look around his apartment. It was small, yet it seemed roomy with it's easy homey feeling furnishings. He didn't have a whole lot of money, he worked as a bouncer after all, but it was enough to support himself and possibly one other person. He took a drink from the can and looked around. The walls were almost bare except for two framed posters of Bruce Lee. One hung behind him behind the couch, and one to the left of his television, which sat on a small entertainment center directly across from him. To his right, was the front door, and beyond the wall with the television was the kitchen. To his left was his bedroom, where he assumed the two girls were still conversing.

Lee heard the bedroom door open, and he looked to his left to see Hitomi hobble into the living room dressed out in the clothes she had on the previous night, supported by The Doctor on her right. The Doctor walked her over to the couch and Hitomi sat down while The Doctor took a seat on the floor.

"Do you two want a soda or somethin' ?" Lee asked them.

"No, thanks," The Doctor declined.

"Oneg - , bit - , erm, please," said Hitomi, cutting herself off twice, realizing she just tried to say `please' in two different languages neither person might not understand.

Lee was about to get up from the couch so he could go get a soda for Hitomi when she stopped him.

"I don't want a whole one," she explained, "I just…"

She reached over, took Lee's can out of his hand and took a drink. Then she shook it a little to get an idea of how much liquid remained in the can. Raising it to her lips she chugged the rest, and gave the empty can back to him. Lee looked at Hitomi in amazement, and at his empty can in disappointment. The Doctor laughed.

"She got you there, Jann honey," Sarah laughed.

"Gomen," Hitomi replied wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Not fair." He said as he turned to Sarah.

"Should we go get her stuff now?" he asked her.

Sarah nodded.

"Where are my keys?" Hitomi asked them.

Sarah reached into her pocket and pulled out a small key ring with no more than 5 keys on it.

"Here," she said, tossing them to Hitomi, "Which one is your house key?"

"This one," she said, holding a single silver key up by it's end, the others falling away and gathering at the bottom of the key ring with a metallic clanking noise.

The Doctor stood up to take the keys from her, but Hitomi held them defensively against her chest.

"I want to go with you," she told The Doctor.

Sarah looked at Lee.

"No," he said strongly, "I can't let you go and put yourself at risk."

"C'mon Lee, I'm a big girl now, I can take care of myself," she argued.

"I think it might be better if you stayed here," The Doctor countered, "I mean your still a little weak and we don't want any of those punks coming after you. Well, what if they have guns or something? And I think you should listen to Lee, he's been there, so he knows what he's talking about."

"Okay," Hitomi said, disappointed. She knew she couldn't win this one.

Lee reached into the back pocket of his regular fitting black jeans and pulled out his wallet. It was tattered and worn; it obviously had seen better days. He opened it and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. Handing it to Hitomi he said "Here, order us a pizza or something."

"Where's the phonebook?" she asked.

Lee pointed to the television. It rested atop several phonebooks. She nodded her head in acknowledgement. Sarah and Lee turned to leave out the front door.

"Hold it," Hitomi said to stop them, "how do you know where I live?"

Lee looked at her.

"If Adams knows then I know."

x x x x

Two hours later, Lee and Sarah walked back into his apartment. They were greeted by a sweet smell, a light white haze, and a sizzling sound. Lee continued inside and placed two trash bags full of clothes on the couch. Sarah walked into the kitchen to find Hitomi bent over the stove, working a pan and spatula. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail with a piece of twine, that had been burnt at both ends.

"We're back," Sarah told her as Lee walking into the kitchen to join them.

"Hey, I put your clothes on the couch," he said. Lee looked around.

"Are you cooking something?" he asked.

"Hai," she replied still bent over the stove.

"Smells good," The Doctor told her.

Hitomi took a pair of chopsticks from her back pocket and fished a vegetable off a sizzling pan on the stove. She turned around and advanced towards Lee, holding the green pepper out with the chopsticks and her left hand under the vegetable to catch the drip. She blew off the pepper in an attempt to cool it down, and shoved it into Lee's mouth.

"How does it taste?" she asked him.

Lee was surprised by this sudden turn of events, himself becoming an involuntary taste-tester, and he concentrated hard to move the hot vegetable around to keep it from burning his mouth. Sarah laughed at him.

"Is it that hot?" Hitomi asked him as if she had no idea that the vegetable could easily burn.

Lee nodded, chewed and swallowed.

"That was good," he said to Hitomi, "where'd you learn to cook like that?"

"My mom taught me, was it THAT good."

"Yeah."

Hitomi smiled at him.

"Danke," she said to Lee with a smile. Lee raised in eyebrow in confusion.

"Don't worry about it, it's my father's side of the family," she told him.

The Doctor held a pink headband in her hand.

"Here honey," she said, holding it out to Hitomi.

Hitomi saw the headband and shoved the chopsticks into Lee's hand, grabbed the spatula and shoved it into his empty hand. She took the headband from Sarah and headed towards the bathroom inside Lee's room.

"Stir the vegetables so they don't burn," Hitomi told him.

Lee looked at the chopsticks in his left hand and the spatula in his right. He thought about it for a second and tried to pawn the spatula off on Sarah. She raised her hands and took a step backwards.

"Don't give that to me," she said, "I can't cook."

"Why'd I get it," Lee complained waving the spatula around, "I can't even boil water."

By this time Hitomi had finished putting on the headband and walked back into the kitchen. She was the two of them arguing and snatched the spatula out of Lee's hand. She glanced over to the pan, could tell the vegetables haven't been stirred and knew they would burn if she didn't do something quick.

"Baaaaka," Hitomi said to Lee as she went to tend the vegetables. She grabbed the pan, and moved the pan to a dormant burner, turned off the burner that it was on, and stirred the vegetables. The Doctor studied Hitomi. She seemed to be re-energized since that incident at The Shakedown. Lee walked back into the living room and stretched out on his couch and Hitomi continued to nurture her food, but Sarah continued to give Hitomi a visual examination. Sarah walked up behind her and placed her hand on Hitomi's shoulder.

"Are you alright honey? You're not hurting anywhere are you?" she asked Hitomi.

"No, I think I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" The Doctor asked squeezing Hitomi's shoulder.

"Yeah."

"Ok, well if you have any problems lemme know."

"I will," Hitomi said as she removed the lid from a pot on the stove and a cloud of steam escaped.

Sarah walked over to Lee, who was sprawled out on the couch obviously being lazy.

"Hey lazy bones," she said as she slapped his knee, "I'm gonna go now, I have some thing at home that needs to be taken care of and Hitomi seems to be fine now. If she has any more problems call me up.

"Okay," Lee replied.

Sarah turned to go out the door.

"Hey," Lee stopped her, "now we're even."

"Don't worry about it," she said waving her hand as if to blow off his concern.

"And you take good care of Hitomi," she jokingly told him, pointing a finger and winking.

Lee gave her an annoyed look.

"Later, Lee honey," she told him as she walked out the door.

"Take care," he said as The Doctor shut the door.

x x x x

Lee continued his lazy state on the couch. He began to drift off into a half alert, half asleep state. Time seemed to stand still, as he stared at the ceiling. Lee focused on a point, and stared at it, unsure why he did, but really didn't care. He was interrupted when Hitomi's puzzled face, half cocked to the side, overtook the spot on the ceiling on which he was focused.

"Lee? Are you alright?" she asked him.

It took a few seconds for this what seemed like long unused human communication to sink in, before Lee realized what was going on.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because I've been calling you for dinner for a while."

"Oh."

"Come and eat," she said, taking hold of his right hand, pulling him out of the couch and leading him by the hand towards the small two-person table in the kitchen.

Lee sat down at the table and stared wide-eyed at the meal that had been laid out for him.

"Whoa," he uttered in amazement.

"What?"

"I_ I haven't had anyone cook for me in a long time."

Hitomi giggled in embarrassment. He studied the table. There sat a pot of steaming rice and a pan of sautéed vegetables that still sizzled. In front of him rested one of his old ceramic plates that he had obtained at a discount store, but they sat dormant in his closet since he knew he couldn't cook if his life depended on it. Next to the plate stood a glass of ice water, a fork and a pair of chopsticks.

"Hand me your plate," she told him. Lee snapped out of his trance of amazement.

"Oh, uh, ok," he said, fumbling with the plated to hand it to Hitomi.

She took the plate from him and sat it down in front of her. Taking to pot of rice, she spooned a monstrous lump onto the middle of the plate. Setting the pot down she went for the vegetables, placing some on top of the rice, and handing the plate back to him.

"Wow," Lee said after receiving the plate, "this looks almost too good to eat."

"Presentation is half the meal," she told him, "my mother taught me that."

Lee picked up the for and searched for the ideal unsuspecting vegetable to impale.

"What's the matter?" Hitomi giggled to him, "Don't you know how to eat with chopsticks?"

Lee hung his head in shame and disappointment.

"No," he mumbled.

Hitomi leaned forward over the table.

"Seriously?" she asked in amazement.

"Yeah."

"Wait, why not? Your Chinese aren't you?"

"Yeah, I've just lived here all my life, and never cared to eat with them. A fork seems so much more natural to me."

"Watch, like this," Hitomi motioned with her hand, taking the chopsticks in front of her and setting them up in her hand.

Lee attempted to follow her example, setting them up, incorrectly, in his hand.

"Now, pick something up with them," Hitomi instructed, continuing her example by picking up imaginary food off her plate. Lee tried to pick up a small strip of green pepper but it slipped and fell back down on the plate. He tried again, but the vegetable continued to allude him. Hitomi laughed at him.

"It's not funny," Lee told her.

"Yes it is," she replied giggling, raising from her chair. Hitomi walked over behind Lee and pressed herself against his back. She reached around and arranged the chopsticks into the correct position in his hand, then gently caressed the back of his monstrous hand.

"Like this," Hitomi whispered as she guided Lee's chopsticks towards the plate of food. Once she had targeted them above a morsel, he closed the chopsticks, wedging it between them.

"Good," she said, "now raise it to your mouth."

Lee raised the chopsticks to his mouth with Hitomi's assistance but the vegetable loosed itself and fell towards temporary freedom on the plate. He looked to Hitomi with a face about to cry.

"At this rate, I'll starve to death," he said, on the verge of crying.

"Keep trying," Hitomi told him.

Lee started to reach back towards the fork, but Hitomi caught his hand.

"No," she playfully scolded him, "anyone can use a fork, but chopsticks take skill and elegance."

"But I'll starve to death before I learn to eat with those," Lee complained.

Hitomi rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Lee, you're such a baby," she told him.

Hitomi reached for Lee's abandon chopsticks.

"Now watch," she instructed me. "One," and Hitomi positioned the chopsticks in her hand. "Two," and she reached down on Lee's plate and picked up the pepper. On the count of three she shoved the pepper into Lee's mouth and its escape was ended. Lee concentrated as he chewed and swallowed.

"Wow, that's awesome," he said in a state of bliss, "it's crunchy on the outside, but soft in middle."

Hitomi gave him another "Woman's Stare".

"What?" he asked, "why do I always get those?"

"Because you're always screwing up. The vegetables are supposed to be soft all around, but you didn't stir them."

"But I can't cook," Lee argued.

"You didn't have to, all you had to do was stir, it's not THAT hard."

"Yeah, but_"

"No buts, from now on I'm confiscating all the forks and you're learning to eat with chopsticks."

Lee could see there was no arguing with her, at least not in the position he was in.

"Yes mother," he said to her.

This response caught Hitomi by surprise and she took a second to think. Now that he had said that, she realized that she was acting like a mother. Thinking about this made smile. It was what her mother had wanted her to accomplish for so long: "find a nice man to settle down with and care for". She giggled.

"What?" Lee asked her.

"Nothing, Lee-chan," she told him as she gave him a slight hug.

Lee wasn't expecting this and he leaned away giving her a funny look.

"Don't worry Lee-chan," she said patting him on top of his gelled, spiked up hair, "I'll take good care of you."

"Thanks," he said rolling his eyes, annoyed because he was treated like a baby.

"Here," Hitomi said to him to get his attention as she grabbed his chopsticks loaded them with food, and presented it towards him.

"Say ahhh," she instructed with a gentle voice.

Lee rolled his eyes and opened his mouth. Hitomi placed the flood inside and Lee chewed, swallowed and took a drink from the glass of water.

"I'm not a baby," Lee argued, " I can feed myself."

"Apparently not! I'm going to feed you with these until you learn to use them. Now open."

x x x x

Lee laid himself back on the couch again. He could hear Hitomi cleaning and organizing things in the kitchen. Stretching out and put his hands under his head. Hitomi walked by him grabbing her trash bags of clothes and dragging them into Lee's room then heard her shut the door and lock it. A minute later Hitomi emerged wearing a plaid pair of pajama pants and a loose fitting white t-shirt. She got Lee's attention by standing in front of him. Lee stared at her. This was the first time he had been alone in his apartment with a girl, and now she was standing in front of him in her pajamas. He was paralyzed as Hitomi approached him.

"Move," she said, "I wanna go to sleep."

Lee looked around as if she was talking to someone else. This girl who had just literally fed him dinner was demanding that he moved himself from his own couch? She had some nerve. "Well it's the least I can do she did cook me dinner after all," he thought to himself. He glanced at the clock sitting on top of the television. It was late. Lee looked at Hitomi. Her dirty brownish-blondish hair was offset by her blue eyes. He chuckled to himself after he saw she was wearing pink fingernail polish like a little girl. Hitomi walked up to Lee and shook him lazily on the shoulder.

"C'mon, mooove I'm tiiired," she dragged out like a child.

Lee looked at her, still smiling about the fingernail polish.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Why?"

"Because I want to know."

"Eighteen."

"You want to sleep on the couch?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?"

"Because I want to know since I don't know much about you."

"You want to know about me?" Hitomi responded happily, "awww, Lee-chan I'm touched," she said trying to give him a hug.

Lee saw it coming and sat up on the couch to dodge her arms and all Hitomi embraced was air as she fell down onto the couch.

"Well, if you want to sleep on the couch, go for it," he said as he rose from the couch and made his way into his room.

He returned with a blanket to find Hitomi curled up on the couch already asleep.

"How can she already be out?" Lee thought to himself. He realized he was pretty tired himself and stumbled back into his room to lay down on his bed. He pulled off his shirt and lazily left it on the floor, crawled into bed, and stared at the ceiling till he slipped off to sleep.

Hai - Japanese for "Yes"

Ohayo - Japanese for "Good Morning"

Chan - a honorific like "Mister" , here it represents a term of endearment, like "Dear" or "Sweetie"

Hans can't speak Japanese well, he is trying to say "Ohayo"

Hans still can't speak Japanese, he is trying to say "Hai"

Chotto Mateo - Japanese for a respectful "wait"

"Lee no baka" translates from Japanese to "Lee you idiot" in English

Hitomi tries to say "please" in Japanese and German. "Onegai" and "Bitte" respectively.

Gomen- Japanese for "Sorry"

Danke -German for "Thank you"

Hitomi once again calls Lee an idiot, but drags it out to emphasize it

Available in Word 97+ format at

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