/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"Mother! Don't apologize for me in my own home!" Yamame did seem to be struggling with this whole thing. "Did you really come all the way here just so you could tease me like this?" She crossly took another sip of her tea. Belatedly, I remembered that I had some tea of my own, so I took a sip and decreed it good.

"Of course not, dear." Akiru replied calmly. "I came because you told me that you were getting married, and I didn't even know you were seeing anyone." Privately, I thought that I was starting to get a bit of an idea why so many of her sisters didn't seem to get along with their mother. "Now..." She leaned toward me this time, that smile back on her face. "How do you feel about my daughter?" She asked me, her tone very clear that trying to escape from the question would be worse than if I'd said that I hated her. So, my back straight, I told her seriously that I loved her, would do anything for her, and wanted to be with her forever. Akiru sat back slightly. "My, my, that's quite the conviction. A human, in love with a youkai. Especially one of the tsuchigumo, who most of the humans from the village hate. What a strange situation I have, here. Yamame, care to respond?"

Yamame looked between us. "Um, I love him too, and I don't want to leave him, ever." She finally said, blushing slightly. "Mother, what are you trying to get from this?" She asked, frowning. "Are you trying to make one of us say that we don't love each other?"

"Yamame, you wound me. I'm here to see for myself the man whose heart my daughter's managed to capture." Akiru looked genuine. "I am happy for you, and I am interested in him." She circled back around to me. "So, you're not easily broken? Have you put that to the test? Why, my first human-"

"Mum!" Yamame cried even louder than before. "I do - Not - Want to hear about that!" She was blushing again, and she definitely looked more than a little scandalised now. "Please don't start telling us about your, um, humans."

Akiru shook her head, her hair bouncing. For a moment, I caught a glimpse of her other eye, just as startlingly read as the other. "Oh, Yamame, you really can't be this easy to tease. All I was going to say was that the first human I encountered broke his leg trying to escape the underground from Hell." Hell? Wasn't it Former Hell? "Well, it wasn't at the time. I helped him to the surface." I was surprised to hear that considering that it must have been rather long ago. "He interested me." Akiru said with a shrug. "I like interesting things." She tilted her head downward slightly, staring into my eyes again. "You're a rather interesting thing, too." She murmured. "Perhaps I should test your endurance. Nothing but the best for one of my daughters." I cast a glance over at Yamame, who had gone rather still. The elder Kurodani shifted slightly more toward me on the couch. "Tell me something. How do you respond to...Restraints?"

"Mum, that's enough!" Yamame snapped, getting up and pulling me off of the couch. "He's my human, not yours! Stop it!" She pulled me slightly behind her, and I decided that speaking was probably not in my best interests at the moment. Akiru looked up at her daughter and at me, her eye flitting between us. "If all you came here for was to try and - I don't know, steal him from me..." She sounded very upset now, and I noticed that she was flexing her hand just slightly. Like she was considering using powers.

And more than that, I wasn't a fan of the way this conversation was going. Arguments between a mother and daughter...No, I didn't much like that. I tried to open my mouth during the silence following Yamame's words, but Akiru beat me to it, so I decided to let her speak first. "Yamame...You're definitely taking more after me." She murmured. "I was just as protective of your father." Here, Yamame went completely stiff. "And...Whenever I wonder where he is now, if he's still around at all - I feel that same protectiveness." She smiled lightly. "No, my silly little Yammy, I didn't come here to steal your future husband." She paused thoughtfully. "Test, maybe. Check if he was going to get scared of a youkai other than you, perhaps." I thought that I had a healthy amount of fear for most youkai at this point. I'd met a fair number, anyway. "Check if he was really good enough for you. You are my daughter, and I won't have my daughter settling for someone beneath her."

Awkwardly, I asked her where I had come on her ratings. Yamame looked back at me. "Is that really what you're worried about?" She whispered to me incredulously. I shrugged defensively, since I thought it was a fair enough question. After a moment, Yamame rolled her eyes. "Fine, ask away." She raised her voice just slightly. "But if she calls me 'Yammy' again, I'm going to attack her." I whispered back that she probably shouldn't fight her mother.