The sound of feet ran pass the open window. Tat, tat, tat, mixing with the hum of the rain pouring over into the streets to clean only as mother nature knew how. They came to a sudden stop as a key turned in the lock and clicked inward.
"Uriah!" The young girl yelled into the foyer. A tall blond strode out of the kitchen and in the warm entrance to their small row house. He smiled wistfully at her as he took the bags from her hands. "I got the things you asked for. The butcher gave us a discount because of the errands I've been running for him lately."
"Good God," He said fretting over her damp coat as she took it off and hung it on one of the hooks by the door. His tanned skin was rosy from making sweets all day, giving him a childlike aura about him. "It's pouring out there, tell me you didn't run the whole way, Sweetheart."
"Course I did," She said shaking out her shoulder length powder blue hair. "It's only a few blocks anyway."
"I thought Kampeki and I told you to take a cab if it was raining to hard," He scolded trying to act stern but his sweet voice only sounded concerned.
"It's not that bad, honest," She said staring at him understandingly with her deep, dark green eyes. When looking into them he swore she was much older than she claimed to be. "I barely even got wet, you don't have to be so motherly all the time."
"How else would I act?" He laughed. "Kampeki is the fathering type so I must be the mother in our little family."
"You said fathering as if it's a horrendous thing," Kampeki, the bright eyed, brood shouldered Asian, said as the two carried the bags into the kitchen where he had been sitting listening to the whole conversation. The smell of sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon poured over them.
"It is," Uriah said crossly putting his hands on his slender hips. "every father that I have ever known had been irresponsible and let their children do whatever they please. All because dad's can't say no, and you are no different. We all know if we want something we just have to go to you and we'll get it."
"Eh," Kampeki responded, shrugging nonchalantly. "The kids end up liking the father better anyway. Weren't you really close to your dad?"
"Well yes... you know what shut up!" He said taking a wooden spoon, caked in dough, out of a bowl sitting on the counter. He took aim to smack the twenty-seven year old toddler as the phone began to ring.
The girl, whom had taken a seat at the island counter to watch and enjoy the show, leaned back and grabbed the phone off the hook. "Kantan, Ronda, Warui residents," She smiled as a piece of dough hit the freshly cleaned wall paper next to the phone. This kind of thing seemed to happen between the two a lot.
"May I please speak to either Mister Uriah Ronda or Kampeki Kantan?" A young woman's voice asked politely.
"One moment," She pressed the receiver into her chest and saying to the other two, fending off each other's playful blows. "Which one of you ladies want to talk to the nice woman?"
Kampeki pulled away from Uriah and took the phone from her with a smile. "Hello?" The fifteen year old watched as his sculpted face turn to that of a small child. "We'll there as soon as possible. Yes, thank you!"
"What was that?" Uriah asked staring at him questionably.
Kampeki grabbed his slender hand and leaned forward to whisper something in his ear, his eyes grew ten-fold. "We're going out for a quick bit," He said rushing back to the front hall. He threw on his leather and false-fur coat. "We'll be back son, would you go ahead and start dinner for us? We should be home before you finish." He grabbed both sides of her head and kissed her forehead.
Kampeki kissed each of her cheeks then pulled on his favorite gray beanie, smoothing out her hair on the back of her head. He smiled warmly and said, "We have to go pick up a surprise for you, Omoide."
She wrinkled her eyebrows together, "Surprise, my birthday's not for another four months."
"You'll really like it, Omoide," Uriah said as Kampeki grabbed his hand to lead him out. "See you in a little while, Sweetheart! We love you!"
Hours ticked away in beat with Omoide's pacing. At first she had been excited, yet, as the thirty minutes turned into an hours and that hour turned into two, she grew more worried and panicky.
The food she had prepared had grown cold sitting out on the table. They had never eaten dinner apart, never. She had not planned on breaking that tradition now. She had set the table with care, and the rearranged it at least forty times since they had gone.
She turned on the TV and flipped through all ten channels that cam in before turning it off again and continued to pace. It was rounding on the third hour now. After staring at the wall for a complete five minutes she was sure she would go insane if she did not get out of the apartment and do something.
She quickly jotted down a note and grabbed her coat and cell phone. She locked the door from the outside and turned. Coming up the front garden walkway was a man in a police uniform. She froze where she stood at the top of the stairs and stared down at the man.
He lifted his hat brim in the rain and asked. "Would you be Ms. Omoide Warui Ronda-Kantan?
"Yes," Her voice cracked already knowing the bad news. Her knees gave out and let her head hang, weeping.
She pulled Uriah's coat tightly around herself. The police had released their belongings to her, as a legal family member. The paper somehow found it's way back into her tanned fingers, the folds being smoothed out.
She had yet to let everything sink in. Their sudden death was hard enough, but when the police had produced the paper with her new name an all new wave of emotions poured forth.
Clearly printed out in what could have been Times New Roman was her new name, her new alias: Omoide Warui Ronda-Kantan. They had adopted her. She never asked them to, secretly she wished they would, but never would she ask such a selfish request of them. The police officer had explained that they had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, the men that had did it were caught and going to trail. An open closed case.
She was uninterested by that point.
The paper was returned to the inside pocket, next to her heart, in the coat. She brought her heels onto the edge of the bench and hugged her knees to her chest as it started to rain harder. She had sat at the bus station for at least a day before she had the courage to buy a ticket. Even then she took an hour before she finally took her turn to buy a one-way ticket.
The bus pulled up to the curb and sighed. She stood under the bus sign wait for the door to open. Rain ran off of Kampeki's knit beanie and onto her shoulders, making her shiver. The doors hissed open to allow her to jump on and hand the driver the soaked ticket.
He didn't even get a glimpse of her face before she disappeared down the aisle. Her bag was shoveled in the over head bin nonchalantly. Just as she sat down her cell phone, bought for her by Uriah began to ring. Omoide stood up and dug the orange plastic out of the side pocket.
"Hello?" She whispered as she folder herself in the uncomfortable chair as the bus lurched forward.
"I thought you might want to talk," The man's voice said sympathetic.
"Thanks," She said somewhat relieved to hear the familiar voice. She turned forward and traced the raindrops' veins on the window. She sighed and prepared herself. "I'm coming home Dad."
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