Note: Sorry for the delay! I tried to lessen confusion by publishing first the +3 chapters of Quiet Life I that I´m writing, but now I know I won´t be able to give that for finished for long, I thought I might as well post this meanwhile. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Miyoko´s parents are Watsuki´s. (No fair, I was the one who made her up, without birds or bees! Oh, well…)

Many thanks to Margit Ritzka.

Quiet Life II: Harvest Time

Chapter Three: A Small Life

Part I:

"Mother… why are you nervous?"

Miyoko sighed, as she noticed the immediate stiffening of the hand that her mother had laid on her shoulder. She had taken care of everything before asking the question this time; the attitude, the tone, even the moment, but it seemed she still had got something wrong. Clenching her teeth, she braced herself for the inevitable.

"I've told you many times, Miyoko-chan. I'm not nervous," Tomoe stated, combing her daughter's dark hair with too much additional enthusiasm. The girl felt tears coming to her eyes.

"Ow!" she protested, when she couldn't bear the sting anymore. If there was something she had learned that day, it was that messing with a grown-up who was obviously upset was not a good idea. No, not at all.

But, she was so worried…

"Uh? Oh… I'm sorry." the woman mumbled. Mere instants later the painful pulling subsided, and Tomoe went to get the materials needed to make two graceful pigtails out of the strands of hair of the superior part of her head. Miyoko crossed her arms over her chest, lost in deep thought.

What was it that had taken her mother?

She had some idea of what happened, this she couldn't deny. That same day, her mother would be going to Matsuo-san´s house to start teaching several children to write, as her father had said some weeks ago. But she could not get it wholly. Hadn't her mother been teaching her for months now? And her father… she had even been teaching her father! How could she think she wouldn't be able to teach people who knew much less than them? It made no sense.

"Come here." Tomoe knelt on the floor at some two steps from her. Miyoko obeyed slowly, watching her with concerned eyes.

"Do not worry, Mother, please," she tried once more, with the most reassuring and grown-up tone she was able to muster.

"Worry?" And oh, that she was in denial. She could fool everybody around, even her father, Miyoko thought for a moment in guilty pride… though, then again, she condescended, her father hadn't had his hair pulled, and her mother hadn't spent half an hour tying his obi. "What are you talking about? Turn your head to the side, like this, and don't move. Your father is waiting for us outside!"

But as the poor child got her hair pulled once more by accident, she suddenly decided that she had had enough.

"I... I don't want you to be upset!" she almost cried, risking a scolding by turning back brusquely and ruining Tomoe's efforts. The woman could not help but widen her eyes, and Miyoko was quick in using that opportunity to stand before her and grab her hand. She had to be serious now, she told herself. Nothing but serious. She wanted her mother back. "You write much, much, much better than them!"

Tomoe froze in place, and for a while did nothing but stare at her with an indescribable face, her limp hand held into her daughter's. Then, to the girl's deep outrage, she started to laugh.

*     *     *     *     *

"We're sorry for making you wait," the woman apologised, when they were both dressed at last and ready to go out. Miyoko's father simply nodded in silence to accept the apology, something the girl thought to be very nice of him after her mother had spent half an hour tying her obi and another half combing her hair. It wasn't much fun, waiting outside.

A soft November breeze blew over them playfully, as the three started to walk down the path that led them to the village. It was nothing like last year, when it had been so cold in November that Miyoko had not even wanted to go outside, and for that she felt very grateful. Things were decidedly going well for her now, starting with this and ending with the significant improvement of her mother's condition after the girl had achieved the remarkable feat of making her laugh. Never mind, a little and annoying voice mocked her from a corner of her head, that she hadn't tried to make her laugh in the first place…

Oh, well, she thought in a rebellious fit. What did she know?

 "Miyoko-chan."

"Yes?" she answered promptly, lifting her head towards her mother. Instead of giving an immediate reply, though, Tomoe seemed surprised at her quickness, and shook her head after thinking for a moment.

"Never mind."

"How much time are you planning to stay?" Kenshin intervened then. "About two hours?"

"That would be fine," the woman nodded politely. "Are you going to leave me there?"

"I still have to take the last bags of rice and bring them home. I thought I could do this, and use the rest of the time to do certain things before coming back for you."

Miyoko could not help giving an exaggerated wince, and bit her lower lip. She knew her father was a very busy man, but she always wondered why he had something to do each time they had to spend time at someone's house. There was nobody ill in the village at the moment, was there?

"As you wish," her mother acquiesced without insisting. Then, as if reading her daughter's thoughts, she strengthened the grip on her hand for a second, in warning.

I know, I know, the girl protested to herself. Little girls do not ask questions, but I haven't even tried!

A group of red mushrooms came into her view at that moment, her born curiosity naturally driving her to stop and inspect them. However, as her parents were so pressed, she was just pulled forward with enough time to send a nostalgic last glance to the bright things.

Why had everybody around her have to be so… edgy sometimes?

Somewhat pensive, the girl fixed her eyes on the hand of her mother's that was holding hers, as she had been told to do many times, and continued walking.

*     *     *     *     *

Yomo-san was polite enough when she greeted them minutes later, but even Miyoko could perceive that she was at the end of her tether. There seemed to be a boy or a girl shouting and laughing in each corner of her house, and, this was actually the worst, some of their mothers -and aunts - had come with them.

"They say they want to learn too, but right now all they have done is to finish my sake supplies," Yomo explained with her characteristic frankness. "Please, Himura-san, start to teach them whatever thing soon!"

Miyoko saw her mother waver, and then turn towards her father for a fleeting moment to ask him something in a whisper. According to her demeanour, the girl wondered whether she was asking him for help, but apparently it was no such thing, since both stayed in the same place without budging. Some moments later, Tomoe had even gathered enough courage to face Yomo-san again.

"My most sincere thanks for allowing us to use your house, Yomo-san," she said. "If you don't mind, please ask them to get ready."

As they entered the chaotic space, Miyoko grabbed her mother's kimono instinctively. She wasn't used to so many people, and she could bet that her mother wasn't either. Maybe that was why she had behaved so strange…

As if  driven by a resort, Tomoe turned towards her.

"Miyoko-chan…" she started. Yomo's voice was yelling to the kids in the kitchen, and the noise was so deafening that she had to do a great effort to raise her voice enough. "Miyoko-chan, do you want to go home?"

"What?" The girl was astonished. "Home? Why?"

"Because you…" The woman swallowed hard, getting on her knees to whisper in her ear. "Because I'll tell you a secret: you know much more than all those people, and there is nothing you can learn here."

Miyoko had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes at that statement. Did her mother think she was stupid or what?

"I know," she explained, patiently. "But I come to help you, right?"

Tomoe gave a deep sigh, and slumped her shoulders. For some terrible moments, the little girl even had the suspicion that she had said something very wrong without noticing in time, though as much as she thought about it she couldn't imagine what or why.

"Yomo-san says that she has gathered everybody in the kitchen, and that you may start now." Kenshin interrupted them, coming in with two heavy bags of rice. "She says that one of the ladies made a cake for us to thank you, but I don't have hands to carry it home now. When we leave…"

"No problem;" Miyoko´s mother cut him in mid-sentence, somewhat abruptly. "Miyoko-chan can go with you and carry it home."

"But…" The girl furrowed her brow. There was something not quite normal in the whole situation, but she couldn't put her finger in the exact place. Why did her mother all of a sudden not want her to…?

"Well, I'm going to fetch the cake;" her father said, turning his back on them and leaving with a shrug of his shoulders. As soon as they were alone, the first words that came to Miyoko's lips were the ones that clearly and accurately summarised her whole dilemma.

"Why are you angry with me?"

Tomoe´s face showed plain surprise. Before Miyoko could tell she shook her head with vehemence, and put her hand on her shoulder, since she didn't give her hugs in public places.

"I'm not angry with you, little one." Carefully, she studied the horizon in search of any potential presence that could hear her words. "Do you want me to tell you another secret?"

Of course, the girl nodded in eagerness, in the hope that this one would clarify her situation better than the first.

"I did not know that those ladies would want to be taught, too," her mother whispered. "I can't teach you together with them. You already know some things, but they don't. They would feel insulted because they would think that a little girl is better than them, and we don't want that, do we?"

Miyoko closed her eyes, and for some intense seconds thought hard about that. She would have loved to best the village children, who were always besting her in other things the few times she had played with them, and mocking her for it. She would have liked so much to get retribution for the jeers she had got when she had been unable to climb that tree…! But, she thought, her mother was right... somehow, the prospect of making their loud speaking and brusque  mothers angry with her did not elicit anything except a twist in her stomach.

"But… you would protect me, wouldn't you?" she asked, staring at her mother with hopeful eyes. Tomoe simply smiled and gave her a pat on the head, just in time before Kenshin came back with Yomo… and as always when she got even minimally fondled, Miyoko was left without her answer. Still, the little girl had to confess to herself, the wish to stay was not so great now as it had been before. Of course her mother would protect her no matter what, but what if what she wanted was that everybody got along?

What a stupid people, by the way, feeling bested by a girl.

"Oh, but Himura-san!" Yomo was protesting. "You don't have to send your daughter away with the cake, there's plenty of time to bring it to your house later!"

Miyoko looked aside, trying to act, like her mother said often, "as if she didn't exist". Though she had never understood too well what was this supposed to mean, since she couldn't cease existing even wishing it very hard, it involved looking aside and also staying silent, so that was what she did. She had the feeling that everything she could say now would fall into the "out of place" category.

"She has to help her father with certain things;" Tomoe explained politely. In that moment, to her evident relief, Yomo´ eldest daughter appeared flustered, telling her mother that her grandmother was getting impatient with the noise in the kitchen and wanted everybody thrown out. Ceasing to insist, the woman bowed with renewed hints of nervousness.

"Well, goodbye then, Himura-san, Miyoko-chan. I hope you come and stay next time."

"Goodbye and thank you, Yomo-san;" Kenshin replied, taking the bags of rice once more. Then, in an undertone, to his wife, he added: "And I wish you courage and patience."

Miyoko saw her mother smile briefly, before she had to turn back for the last time.

Part II:

The return journey was carried in an almost complete silence, as it was wont most of the times that Miyoko´s father could exert his will over his surroundings. The girl did little more than to follow him with careful steps, taking care not to fall or drop the cake she was carrying, and thinking about how she missed her mother even if she had just bidden her goodbye.

Well, in truth, things were not quite like that, an ashamed Miyoko corrected herself almost immediately. She was quite fond of her father, and it was evident for everybody that he was the best father of the village. There was no other with red hair, who could heal everything and who didn't get angry when her mother spent much more than an hour getting her ready. He wasn't useless for a week after parties, and it was true that he loved her mother and her very, very much.

But still, to be alone with him scared Miyoko a bit. He had a weird way of forgetting that she was around, and sometimes he could stay silent for truly long periods of time. Like her mother, he could suddenly look sad for no reason, but, unlike her, Miyoko's presence didn't wipe all worries from his face. She had even seen him look through her, as if he couldn't see she was there… and then she had felt so bad that she hadn't dared to say a word.

Of course, the girl had asked her mother several times about this, a confuse feeling prompting her not to let everything out for the first time in her life. But, in the end, almost all the information she had  wrought out of from her had been insufficient. Practically, all she had got had been that "her father loved her very much, but sometimes he found it difficult to express it", and she hadn't even been told why. Thanks, but she already knew that!

And something was clear: to ask him was out of the question. She just… couldn't. Ever. Not at all. She found herself blushing from head to toe, just to think about it.

All those contradictory thoughts were still battling inside Miyoko's mind when they reached their house, and her father laid the rice bags on the floor with a soft thump. As he walked to the corner to fetch something or maybe to change, she left the cake on the table, and went to pick up her doll. She would play quietly for a while, unless her father had really planned to require her help, which she doubted.

Still, before she had even found a comfortable position on the floor, her father appeared once more in front of her. He had tied the sleeves of his kimono, and his haori was over his shoulders, so she immediately guessed he was going to continue cutting the wood from that tree.

"I'm going to cut wood, Miyoko-chan." he said, corroborating her thoughts. She looked up, and nodded pleasantly.

"Okay."

But her father did not move.

"Come with me."

"Uh... what?" The surprised girl widened her eyes. "Can't I stay here?"

Kenshin turned his back to his daughter, and started to search for the axe among the house utensils. His voice sounded a bit hoarse, maybe because of the distance.

"I want to keep you in sight. If you stayed here alone, I would be worried."

This explanation was even stranger for Miyoko to hear than the previous statement. Not only was she unable to find anything minimally thrilling in having to walk again through the forest and spend her time watching him while he cut wood, but it also was the most weird idea she had heard in her whole life! Wasn't she a good girl, who didn't get into messes?

"But, why?" she insisted, in a tone that came out somewhat whiny.

Her father did not answer for a long while, still busy in finding the axe even though Miyoko herself could see it from the place where she was sitting. At last, he seemed to spot it, and grabbed it as if pressed.

"Because," he snapped, sliding the shoji open. The girl followed him at a slow pace, hugging her doll with a passion and calling herself all the scarce names that her innocent mind had already been able to gather.

She would never learn that little girls did not ask questions.

*     *     *     *     *

"Miyoko-chan."

The girl lifted her head immediately, unable to hide that she was glad that conversation had broken in at last. The atmosphere was getting humid as they were walking deeper and deeper into the forest, and fresh translucent drops hung beautifully from the leaves of the trees they were passing by. In spite that the temperature wasn't cold that day, Miyoko´s body was shaking now and then, and she hoped that the tree her father was cutting wasn't too far away.

"Yes?"

Her father slowed his pace, and changed the axe of hand.

"I want you to understand something."

Oh, well…Miyoko thought, lowering her head again to wait for the inevitable scolding. Her mother also used to start them that way…

Only that she doesn't spend an eternity thinking about what she's going to say next, she perfected minutes later, as no other word had left her father's mouth yet. For a while, she even held a silent debate with herself about whether she should encourage him nicely or keep her mouth shut, as the occasion seemed to require, but while she was at it Kenshin decided to speak again.

"I… I don't know if you are going to see what I mean or not," he began, somewhat hesitantly. "But sometimes I have fears, that things may happen to you if you're alone."

"Things?" Miyoko exclaimed, her face distorted in a shocked frown. Almost at once, of course, she was already mad at herself once more, and vowing in all solemnity that she would slap herself if she happened to forget again. By all kami´s sake, she was trying to open him up!

"Which things?" she asked in a meek tone, hoping it wasn't already too late to fix it. Her father let go of a deep breath.

"There are people… ki.. er, kidnappers, who may want to make me mad, and who could come here while your mother or I are not with you."

"Aha. That," Miyoko nodded, in fact not getting it at all but decided not to show it. Maybe it was she who should know better and understand what "kidnapper" meant… and, anyway, she wasn't going to displease her father again. He might shut up completely the next time...

"That´s why I don´t want you to be alone anywhere, Miyoko-chan. Maybe it's just me… I was once in a place where people did those things, and probably I'm wrong in thinking that this can happen everywhere. But it´s engraved in my mind." Kenshin made a brief pause, and shook his head. For a moment, he stopped his pace to wait for her, and when she was at his side he put his arm around her little shoulder. "Or maybe I'm just one of that kind of people, you know, of those who can't stop thinking that something is going to go wrong when they're supposed to be happy, even if there's no reason for it. I may not deserve it… and, in every case, I've seen too many things in my life."

Miyoko nodded repeatedly, if rather to put in order all those weird words and ideas that were floating in her head. Someone was going to come, but maybe he wouldn't, and her father thought that he might be wrong when he thought that a thing could go wrong?

In honest truth, she hadn't understood a thing.

"Are you angry with me, then?" she asked, giving him a hopeful look.

For a second, it seemed as if her father's eyes were widened in surprise. Soon enough, however, the puzzled expression gave way to what the girl could have described as a sheepish smile, and he patted her shoulder gently.

"No."

Miyoko beamed and continued walking with a renewed energy, satisfied with the answer.

*     *     *     *     *

As soon as they arrived to the place where the felled tree lay, prudently wrapped in cloth to keep it dry, Kenshin got ready to begin his work. Before starting, though, he took off his haori, and to little Miyoko's shock, he set it on the humid grass at a prudential distance, for her to sit down on it.

Looked like, do what she may, she wouldn't be able to avoid the scolding on this particular day. Oh, well…

"I can't do it," she explained to her father. "Mother will be very angry if it gets dirty."

"It was already dirty," her father answered, she had to admit that with good logic. After he had had to catch that poor birdie which had got stuck in the chimney that morning… no vigorous dusting had achieved a complete effect.

"Sit on the clean part, or your mother will be angry," he warned, turning back. "And not because of the haori!"

"Uh?… Oh. Okay," the girl nodded, once her mind had pondered that for a moment. Taking care to cover as little space as it was possible, she sat down, and sat the doll on her lap.

"Take a look, Aiko-chan," she told her, as she stroked her "hair". "Your grandfather is going to chop that trunk into little pieces now with the big knife. It's not very funny, but we can count how many pieces he makes, okay?"

Aiko nodded, apparently resigned to the boring task as her mother herself was. Both began to watch Kenshin, who, intent in each one of the crevices of the tree, gripped the axe in his right hand and stood still without making a move.

"Mother, when is he going to start?" the doll asked, with a similar whining voice to the one Miyoko had used before at home. The girl, however, was so busy pondering the same thing that she didn't even get to remind her that little girls did not ask questions. Her father was frozen, and, even more... to her dismay, he had again that weird expression in his face.

"Mother, say something to him… I'm scared!" Aiko-chan pleaded, burying her face in Miyoko's lap.

"Don´t be silly," she scolded her. "You know he is like that sometimes."

"But his eyes are dull!" the doll insisted.

"Well…" To her annoyance, the girl was starting to be won over. Yes, she had to admit Aiko was partly right… Though she could be mistaken, and though she knew she was not supposed to get nearer because it could be dangerous, she doubted she could feel more uneasy than what she was feeling now. "Maybe…"

"Please, please, tell him!

"But, what do I say?" she cried, exasperated. In that moment, Kenshin seemed to react, and let the axe fall down on the trunk for the first time. A muffled noise of wounded wood reached Miyoko's ears, followed by the sharp twang of the axe disengaging itself from its grip, but when the girl could spot her father's eyes again, they were still stranger than before. He looked… scared.

If only Mother was here…she thought, with renewed longing. She would know what to do!

"Father…" she began, timidly. As she had imagined that would happen, she got no reaction.

"Father!" she cried louder, a bit more intently. At last, Kenshin noticed, and turned towards her with his body in tension because of the suppressed startle.

"Yes, Miyoko-chan?" he asked, giving her an inquiring glance. The girl opened her mouth to answer… and, as she remembered that she hadn't thought of anything, she closed it again, embarrassed. So much about impulsiveness…

"I…" she started. In her distress, she bit her finger, and let the doll down. What could she say?

"Go on, say it," he encouraged her.

"Can... uh, can I and Aiko… do it for you?" she blurted out in the end, the first thing that came to her mind as Kenshin´s surprised frown increased with the delay. "You don't like it."

If possible, her father's glance became more puzzled now.

"I don't like it? Where on Earth did you gather that?"

"Well…," she explained, shuffling her feet. "You looked as if…"

Kenshin stared at her for a while, considering her calmly. Then, all of a sudden, he shook his head and smiled… not a smile of amusement, as the one before when she had asked him whether he was angry with her - she still didn't get very well why, but she was starting to get used to everybody finding her most serious utterances funny -, but a smile, she decided with a thrill, of those that he usually reserved for her mother. She smiled back, elated.

"Sit back, Miyoko-chan," he instructed her. "I'm done in minutes."

As he turned back to what he had been doing, this time diligently and with renewed vigour, the little girl could notice that the clouded look had wholly disappeared from his eyes. He began to perform his task at a methodical pace, stopping now and then to inspect his own handiwork.

"See, Aiko-chan…" she told her doll, who sat again comfortably on her lap. "What would they do without us?"

Part III:

For the return journey, Kenshin offered his daughter to sit on his shoulders. There, though she tried to fight it at first, since an opportunity of playing - discreetly, of course - with such brilliant red hair did not come every day, Miyoko ended up by doing what was expected of any five-years-old girl when the end of a busy day was over; fall helplessly asleep with her doll as a pillow. She was exhausted, and even when her father entered the cottage where they lived in order to leave the dirty - and now soaked too- haori, some wood and the axe there, her only reaction was to whimper a bit and continue sleeping. Only the lights and the noise of Matsuo-san's house were able to wake her up, about fifteen minutes later.

"Good evening, Mayo-san." her father bowed to the woman who had opened the door. Miyoko felt awful for a while, rubbing her eyes and shivering as her forced return to the world of the awoken was drastically consummated. Where was she? Had she really been asleep all the way?

"Your wife is not finished yet." Mayo informed. Then, as she saw the look of surprise on Kenshin's face,  she added more hesitantly: "Or at least they don't allow her to leave."

At those moments, Miyoko was feeling out of her wits enough not to think anything too coherent. Sleepy, she let her father put her down on the floor with the same ease as if she was a feather, and rubbed her eyes a bit more.

"Well, this must mean that they're enjoying the lesson," Kenshin said.

"Do you want me to… tell her you want her to stop?"

Yes! the little girl wished, with all the eagerness she could muster in her present state. The only thing she wanted now was to have her mother back and go home. It had to be the first time in her short life that she had been deprived of her for that long!

"Tell her I'm here, if you'd be so kind. And that if she wishes to sleep here, I have no problem with it," the red-haired man smiled, to his daughter's dismay. Minutes later, though, when the shoji opened and plenty of women and children started to come out, the former staring not very politely at her father and the latter with relief written over their faces, her dismay was replaced by reassurance. And, of course, when her mother appeared behind them, she felt so happy that she had to restrain with difficulty the urge to run towards her and embrace her hard.

"Mother…" she said instead, walking towards her and forgetting all about her sleepy state to grab her kimono with her hand. Oh, no, she wouldn't escape her again.

"…and if you have some problem with this, just tell me," Tomoe told the woman who was speaking with her at the moment. "I'm aware it's difficult to grasp at first."

"Your mother is not nice at all," a boy about two years older than her told Miyoko as he passed her by. The girl glared at him, outraged.

"Okay, people, my mother needs to sleep!" Yomo-san´s yells gradually overwhelmed all conversations. "The door is in that direction," she reminded her sister and her friend, not very subtly.

Little by little, though maybe not as soon as the stressed host expected, all the "students" left the house, discussing with passion the hiragana signs they had been taught. Good for a beginner, Miyoko thought disdainfully. She had learned those months ago…

"You look sleepy, Miyoko-chan," Tomoe told her, as she was allowed to get a close view of her daughter at last. Though she had acted very composed in the presence of the other people, now the girl was able to spot how tired she was. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yes," she nodded with a smile. "I fell asleep when Father was carrying me here."

Her mother frowned at that, obviously not pleased.

"And now you won't fall asleep again for hours, I suppose," she complained. Before Miyoko could reassure her and tell her that she was still sleepy, however, Kenshin approached them, and she lifted her face towards him.

"I'm sorry… Those people were eager to learn, and the lesson got longer," she told him with an apologetic smile.

"Did you have a good time?" he paraphrased his wife without knowing, dismissing her words with a wave of his hand. Tomoe nodded, and both bowed Yomo and Mayo farewell, dragging Miyoko behind to the darkness of the new night.

"So it´s true…" Kenshin resumed the conversation as they walked back home among shadows. They weren't walking now as the girl was used to; her father was holding her mother's hand and her mother was holding hers. Somehow, he knew exactly where to go where Miyoko saw almost nothing, and so he was guiding the women.

"What's true?" Tomoe asked. "That I had a good time? Yes, it's true. The children got bored very soon, but the grown-ups were nice and eager." Her voice was lowered now almost to a whisper, that Miyoko could hardly hear. "It was a pleasure teaching them. Very tiring sometimes… but a pleasure."

Kenshin did not answer anything to this. They continued in silence for a while, until, minutes later, it was Tomoe herself who broke it again.

"You were right," she said." Thank you."

Kenshin chuckled, in a surprising exhibition of good humour.

"We both have to thank each other today, indeed."

From the sudden weakening of her mother's grip on her hand, Miyoko could tell that her mother was surprised by the statement. Seized by a weird desire to express hilarity, the girl covered her mouth with her doll, and chuckled, too.

*     *     *     *     *

A nice spirit of lightheartedness floated over the table at dinnertime, of which the girl was very much aware almost at every moment. This, of course, had later the unpleasant side-effect that her mother's fears were proved true: after smiling so much she had no desire to sleep when the hour came. With a deep sigh, her tired mother finished by giving up on her, and arranged the blankets over her as she told her to practice meditation.

"But I do not know how…," the girl started in a complaining tone. While she was saying this, though, she remembered a certain thing, and took her hand from under the covers to grab her sleeve. "Oh, Mother, don't go! I wanted to a…" no, no, she reproached to herself, she could not say THE word. Or she wouldn't get anything today. "Can you…tell me something?"

It did not work, she thought ruefully, when she saw her mother get defensive. Oh, again… Why did she have to dislike her questions so much?

Because she's tired and wanting to go to bed, maybe?, the voice of her conscience answered for her. Almost at once she shrugged it off, however. It was just a little harmless question, after all!

"Miyoko-chan…"

"Please…" she entreated, with wide puppy eyes. As she noticed the unequivocal signs of surrender on her mother's face, the first thing she did was to immediately scan the room to see how far his father was. When she found that the distance was satisfactory  - he was putting out the fire , actually -, she nailed her glance on her mother again, and dragged her to her level to whisper her question in her ear.

"Mother…who are those kidnapper people who can come here when you're away?"

(the end)