Homesick: Chapter Ten

The next morning, as soon as she had awakened, Kamijou-san called the hospital for a report and was informed her son was stable and resting.

After receiving this news, she prepared herself for the day. Now the Lady Kamijou sat in "Nowaki's" room, lost in her morning prayers.

She'd made two circuits on her Buddhist prayer beads. The first rotation through was spent praying for Hiroki's health, the second she asked for guidance in how to handle the revelations of the previous evening.

A soft noise from the other end of the apartment broke Kamijou-san from her reverie.

Her heartbeat accelerated as the stirring in the other room continued. Hiroki's mother glanced over at the clock; it was still quite early. She had been up for hours. Sleep had not come easy to her or lingered long that night. Her mind had refused to rest.

In addition to the fact that Kamijou-san found the whole notion of homosexuality disagreeable, if not disgusting… If it was true, and Hiroki was involved with the man, Kusama, what would that mean for her family's future?

Hiroki was their only child. What will happen to the family name?

Kamijou-san felt a deep grief at this: she and Hiromasa had tried numerous times to start their family. According to the doctors, Hiroki had been nothing short of a miracle and the gods had never visited such favor on her again.

Though she knew her husband had been disappointed in this fact, as far as she knew, Hiromasa had never taken a mistress. Nor had he once ever spoken of divorce, unlike some other men she knew.

The image of the two forlorn Usami boys popped into her mind and she shook her head sadly.

Kamijou-san had been grateful that her husband thought enough of her to stand by her in such a way. And she had been eminently thankful for the blessing of their son.

Fear gripped the lady's stomach and her hands slipped automatically over the beads she held as she considered the disgrace a gay son would bring upon her household. Her chest tightened as she wondered if Hiromasa might not somehow hold her accountable for this defect in Hiroki's character.

Will that drive him away from me at last? Will Hiromasa disown Hiroki and force me to shun my only son?

Hearing the sound of water running in the kitchen she knew that Kusama-san had returned home from the hospital. She might have almost preferred a burglar.

The lady felt a slight warmth creep into her cheeks. She knew she should go out and greet the man, but the instant she imagined doing this, all she could see was that perverted DVD cover.

Only the two men embracing that flashed into her mind weren't the actors, but rather Kusama-san and her son.

Still, Kamijou-san was not one to allow her personal discomfort to overshadow her manners, and after all, she was a guest in the house.

It's only proper that I pay the correct respects to my host.

She rose from the floor where she had been kneeling, swept the invisible creases from her kimono, stiffened her spine, and headed out into the apartment.

She emerged from the hall to find Nowaki in the kitchen. Given the noises she had been hearing, this was what she'd anticipated. What she hadn't expected to see, however, was the beautifully-arranged, traditional breakfast laid out on the dining table. Her eyes widened at this.

Nowaki stepped forward from where he had been standing behind the counter and greeted Hiroki's mother with a respectful nod. "Good morning, Kamijou-san," he said pleasantly.

The lady had been so taken with the spread she started slightly at the sound of Nowaki's voice.

She turned her eyes from the table to the man and found the heat rising quickly again to her cheeks as a new series of unwanted images ran through her mind. Still, Kamijou-san composed herself almost immediately, so that despite her pinked cheeks, her face was a pleasant mask of serenity.

"Kusama-san," she politely returned the greeting.

"I thought you would want to get back to see your son early, but I also thought you might like to eat something before you did."

She was hungry. She had eaten barely anything since Kusama-san's initial call about Hiroki. However, she was unsure how she felt about eating with this man she hardly knew and who had, apparently, taken up sullying her son.

Kamijou-san studied Nowaki covertly as she pretended to adjust her sleeve; it was a skill she had honed well over the years. Kusama obviously had not had the chance to clean up from the day before and his appearance was even scruffier than it had been even previously. This struck her as most disagreeable.

While Nowaki could hardly have guessed the full extent of the lady's discomfort, he was keen enough to sense her uneasiness.

"I apologize, Kamijou-san, I went ahead and ate earlier when I first arrived home." He hadn't really, but he imagined that she might not eat otherwise.

The lady Kamijou tipped her head slightly at these words and this time she studied Nowaki overtly. Despite his own unease, Nowaki was hard pressed not to smile, as this was a mannerism he'd often seen in his partner and discovering its origin delighted him.

"I also made a bento for you too. It's packed and in the fridge." Nowaki offered, stepping over to the instant kettle. "The food in the cafeteria is alright sometimes, but a fair amount of it is highly processed and I imagined, given the descriptions your son has given me of your expert cooking, that you would prefer something fresh."

Hiroki's mother started internally at the hidden praise in the comment. She realized the intern was much more sly than she had originally thought.

"That's very kind of you, Kusama-san. But you shouldn't have gone to all this trouble." Kamijou-san smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.

Still, she moved over to the table, but before she sat she asked, "So you do all the cooking for you and Hiroki?" The lady was wondering if Kusama-san was the "wife" of the couple.

If that was true, while she still didn't approve, the woman was surprised to find this notion somehow made the idea just a slight bit less mortifying.

Nowaki moved to the cupboard and extracted one of Hiroki's good teas, a blend that would accompany the breakfast well and was said to have reviving qualities.

When he stepped back to the counter and was facing Kamijou-san again he smiled. "Ah, no. We share almost all the household duties. Your son is actually quite a good cook too, though he doesn't like to do it unless he has a recipe to follow."

Nowaki's gentle smile grew a bit at this, recalling all the times he'd watched Hiro-san constantly checking his laptop as he rumbled around the kitchen.

He broke from this thought and straightened out his smile seeing Kamijou-san's raised brow. "Um, did he get his cooking skills from you, Kamijou-san?" Nowaki asked trying to distract the woman from her intense scrutiny.

The lady Kamijou sniffed. "My Hiroki wouldn't set foot in the kitchen when he was younger unless he wanted fed."

"Ah… I see," Nowaki turned his attention back to the tea he was making. His shaggy brow hid well the slight furrow in his brow that had formed at Kamijou-san's possessive tone.

Hiroki's mother watched Nowaki make the tea.

Normally she would have insisted on doing it herself. However, despite Kusama-san's assertion that he and her son shared the domestic duties, she was unwilling to relinquish her desire to see Hiroki as the "man of the house."

Considering this, if this Kusama-san was going to then take the "daughter-in-law" role, it was only proper that he serve her.* Though she wondered in truth, how serious her son even was about this man, considering Kusama-san had said previously that they had not lived together for long.

She suddenly wished she'd listened to her husband's urgings years ago that they arrange a bride for their scholarly son, but she hadn't wished for anything to distract from Hiroki's studies. And if she was honest, she also hadn't wanted the wedge of another woman prying the distance between her and Hiroki wider than it already was.

Nowaki was going through the movements of making the tea particularly carefully. Hiro-san had mentioned his mother's formal training in the ritual to him on more than one occasion.

Kamijou-san's keen eyes noted his deliberation and immediately recognized particular motions. "Who taught you to make tea, Kusama-san?" she inquired.

Nowaki looked up. He picked up a cup and the small ceramic teapot filled with the tea and brought these over to Kamijou-san at the table. He poured the tea without misplacing a drop. "Your son taught me some of the finer aspects of tea preparation, Kamijou-san. He is a very good instructor."

"And how did you come to meet my son, Kusama-san?"

Nowaki moved back over to the counter to where his own filled cup sat. "He was my tutor. He helped me prepare for my equivalency and my placement exams."

Kamijou-san was shocked by this admission. If this was true then her son had known Kusama-san for some time, years in fact.

She could well understand now why Hiroki would have neglected to mention Kusama, but she suddenly wondered if it was possible that Aki-kun was aware of the situation? As close as he and Hiroki were she couldn't imagine otherwise.

Why has Akihiko never mentioned Kusama? A crease formed on Kamijou-san's smooth forehead.

It wasn't as if she could fault Akihiko for withholding that sort of information, really. That wasn't the type of subject that would have been appropriate for them to discuss. Somehow, though, she still felt disappointed in him for not giving her some kind of warning.

Kamijou-san studied her teacup intently. She was impressed by its quality, but that wasn't really what she was contemplating. "So you have been Hiroki's 'friend' for a while?" she asked, her tone significant.

Nowaki blinked at the question and then his face was lit by his usual warm smile. "Ah yes," he murmured, though he didn't elaborate further.

He picked up his own teacup and offered the lady another nod. "Please forgive me Kamijou-san, I hope you don't find me too inhospitable, but I have some reading to do. The chief pediatrics surgeon assigned me to look up a certain condition. And I should attend to that before I go to sleep. I have another job to get to in a few hours also.

"I hope you find the breakfast adequate and if you don't mind, just leave the things out and I'll clean up later. I imagine you're anxious to get back to the hospital anyway.

"I saw your son before I left and I am sure he would be happy to see you again soon too."

Kamijou-san's eyes widened a bit at Nowaki's last words and some of her iciness melted. "You saw him? He was awake? How was he doing?"

"Even on all the medications they had him on, he was still being stubborn," Nowaki offered this in his most reassuring tone.

This brought the first true smile of the day to Kamijou-san's face. As Nowaki took his tea and left the woman to dine in peace he couldn't help but think it was lovely. He just hoped that someday her face might hold such a smile for him.

Kamijou-san watched Nowaki disappear into Hiroki's room and close the door quietly behind him. Then she turned back to the table and surveyed the food spread before her with a frown.

Kusama was polite and thoughtful, but she still didn't approve of "that" kind of lifestyle. Nor was she going to be won over by a simple breakfast.

Still, looking at the food, she had to admit it she was very hungry now. Kamijou-san sighed as she picked up her bowl and chopsticks.

After she'd eaten, despite Kusama-san's offer that she could leave things, she cleaned up the table and rinsed her dishes. She called a taxi to pick her up, she didn't want to bother or wait for Akihiko. Besides, she wasn't ready to face him just yet either, in light of what she'd recently learned.

After this she made a quick trip to the bathroom to check and make sure she was adequately arranged to face the world. (She found the arrangements of the apartment, with the bath and the toilet together so disconcerting*)

Then she went to the "guest room" to gather her bag and her things. On her way out, she paused near the kitchen thinking about the bento waiting for her in the fridge.

She frowned at what the implications might be in Kusama-san's mind if she accepted it. "No," she decided and left the apartment, bento free.

As soon as he heard the front door close, Nowaki put down the medical text he was reading and sighed. He stood up and stretched before he headed to the bathroom. He would put the breakfast things away later, but right now he desperately wanted a shave and shower. He felt so grungy after all the disorder and hustle of the previous day.

Down at the curb it seemed to be taking some time for her taxi to arrive. Given this, Kamijou-san decided to call her husband and confirm when he would be arriving. It was only then she realized to her chagrin that her phone was missing.

I must have set it down in the bedroom when I was gathering my things and forgotten it. So troublesome.

When the cab finally pulled up she instructed the driver to wait and then she headed up to the apartment once more to retrieve it, moving as quickly as she could while still looking regal. She was grateful she had taken the key that Akihiko had left with her.

Entering the apartment, Kamijou-san was pleased to encounter the quiet. She hoped that meant Kusama-san had fallen asleep and she could get her phone without seeing him again. She swept down the hall and sighed in relief to find her phone sitting where she'd left it on the dresser. She slipped it into her bag and stepped back out into the hall.

She was two-thirds of the way to the main room when unexpectedly, the bathroom door opened and Nowaki, dressed in nothing but a towel, stepped into the hall directly in front of her, a cloud of steam and sweet smelling shampoo billowing out behind him.

Kamijou-san stopped short, shocked not only by the man's sudden appearance, but by Kusama-san's physical appearance as well. For some reason, unclothed, his height seemed even more significant.

His lean limbs were tightly muscled, his chest pleasingly swelled, belly perfectly ridged. Kamijou-san stood in awe of the man's trim hips, a sensual curve of bone visible on one side where the towel dipped down. His broad shoulders seemed to fill the narrow hallway.

Seeing the sculpted contours of Kusama-san's lanky frame, Hiroki's mother suddenly wondered why Hiroki (if they were indeed his) would ever resort to looking at a fitness magazine, given the specimen that Kusama-san was.

A sudden heat filled Kamijou-san and the lady realized with horror that her sudden rolling warmth wasn't confined to just her cheeks.

Nowaki had been so absorbed in his thoughts, he hadn't heard Kamijou-san's quiet entry. He had stepped into the hall slightly blinded, a towel draped over his head as he rubbed the last of his shower's dampness from his dark head. He did, however, hear the woman's gasp.

At this sound Nowaki looked up and caught Kamijou-san's horrified expression. Before he could catch himself, he articulated a rare "Damn!"

He swept the towel from his head and held it over his chest in a manner that, given any other situation, would have looked amusingly modest.

"Please forgive me, Kamijou-san," Nowaki fumbled awkwardly as he tried to bow his way across the hall and into his bedroom. "I thought you'd left the flat for the hospital."

Kamijou-san had averted her eyes and raised a sheltering hand immediately, the moment she connected with Nowaki's startled gaze.

She lifted her head when she heard a slight thunk.

Nowaki had backed into the closed door of Hiroki's bedroom. He was still bowing his apologies, unfortunately the combined actions dislodged the tender twist of his towel and it slipped off his hips completely.

This would have been bad enough in itself, but Nowaki, even though he felt guilty when his Hiro-san was so ill, had been thinking about his partner while in the shower. He had dealt with the consequences of this there, but the effects of his recent release had not entirely dissipated. So Kamijou-san was treated to a far greater glimpse of the treasure that was Nowaki, than she would have been under normal conditions.

"Ah… by the gods!" Nowaki growled in mortification. Dropping the small towel over his chest down now to his groin with one hand as the other reached back for the knob. "Sorry… so sorry!" He muttered as the door finally opened and he was able to slip in closing it abruptly behind him.

Out in the hall, Kamijou-san stood stunned and crimson. Then despite her age and her station, she gathered the hem of her Kimono and scurried for the front door.

It was not just her embarrassment at the situation she was trying to outrun, but the myriad impure thoughts that had flooded her mind at the vision of a naked Kusama-san. The images of her encounter, however, followed her to that cab.

She was appalled to hear a soft voice inside her head say, "Well, now you know at least one reason why your son would find someone like him so appealing."

"Shut up!" she huffed angrily as she slid into the back seat of the car, ignoring the look of the startled cabdriver.

Upstairs, Nowaki was still leaning against his bedroom door, his lean sides panting with distress.

In all his fantasies about meeting his lover's parents and interacting with them, this was one scenario he had never… ever… envisioned.

His shower-warm flesh broke out in a sudden cold sweat. He found himself hoping unkindly that Hiroki might have to stay in the hospital for a bit, as he knew when the man was released Hiro-san would kill him for flashing his mother.

Thank you so much for the reviews, follows and favorites!

Okay… so next chapter… back to our dear Hiroki and Hiroki's dad will show up…. The fun will continue…

Now for this chapter's educational bits:

* Mother-in-law- Daughter-in-law dynamics in Japan

One of the interesting things about the social dynamics within a traditional household is that perhaps the greatest amount of tension was between the role of the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. And if you think about it, both of them are people who were not born into that household; they are both strangers to the household. The mother-in-law of course in an earlier generation has had to go through the same process that the daughter-in-law is going through now, in order to become a full-fledged member. And so, in a sense you have two outsiders fighting with one another, or at least struggling with one another, to define their legitimate role within the household.

But, even though they aren't born into the household, they are of course absolutely crucial members of the household. The wife's role, whether mother-in-law or daughter-in-law, is to be the manager of the household, to in many cases manage the finances of the household and so forth — an incredibly important and pivotal role in keeping the whole family enterprise going.

Perhaps the most vivid symbol of this central role of the wife and mother in the household is a rice paddle — in Japanese called a shamoji — a kind of ping-pong-paddle-shaped bamboo implement that a woman would use to stir rice as it's cooking in a pot, and then would use to scoop cooked rice out into bowls and feed members of the family with. And at the point when a young wife, a daughter-in-law, had reached maturity, had proven herself to be a loyal and productive member of the household, and her mother-in-law was at a point of being willing to fully welcome her into the household, in traditional times they would have a ceremony at which the mother-in-law would ritually pass the rice paddle on to her daughter-in-law, signifying that she was relinquishing control of the household from one generation to the next.

Quoted from afe . easia . columbia . edu/at/contemp_japan/cjp_family_

The Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law

Most homes in Mamachi do not include a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law, but if they do, the difficulties between them are almost certain to dominate the family scene. In private conversations and in newspaper columns, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is commonly recognized as the most serious problem facing the modern family.[2] Some girls agree to marriage on the condition that the husband make arrangements for his mother to live elsewhere. Some wives have pleaded with their husbands to prevent the mother-in-law from moving in. Some wives and mothers-in-law have tried to adjust to each other, but the arguments have been so vicious that they have been forced to separate. Some wives, who might otherwise be unhappy, console themselves with the thought that at least they do not live with their mothers-in-law. Yet, as much as they both try to avoid living together, the cost of setting up separate households combined with the limited financial resources, the filial feeling toward parents, and the lack of other satisfactory arrangements for elderly people sometimes leaves no acceptable alternative, especially when the young couple is just getting started or after the mother-in-law is widowed.[3]

In traditional Japan, the only hope of the daughter-in-law for success was to prove her loyalty to the mother-in-law by learning how to satisfy her every wish. Not only was it virtuous for a young bride to obey her mother-in-law, but it paid off in the long run. Only after proving her devotion could she hope to have the freedom to do things on her own. If she failed badly, she was sent back to her original home in disgrace. Divorces were commonly initiated not by the husband but by the mother-in-law. Some Japanese have observed that in America relations with the mother-in-law are a kigeki (comedy), in Japan a higeki (tragedy).

Compared to the problem of the mother-in-law, the problem of the father-in-law seems almost inconsequential. Because the salary man has no business connection with his father-in-law, there is no serious authority problem between them. The daughter-in-law generally has little problem with her father-in-law because he takes little interest in the home. Often there is a positive attraction between daughter-in-law and father-in-law, which is not entirely dissipated even though it is often dealt with by avoiding any situation where the two of them would be alone. Even when the father-in-law is harsh and demands that the daughter-in-law cater to his wishes, she generally finds this much easier to adjust to than the harassment of the mother-in-law.

Although the wife would prefer to live with her mother than with her mother-in-law, if they live together the husband may have a power struggle with her mother, especially if the wife and mother give each other mutual support in resisting the husband's wishes or in making demands on him.[4] But the fact that he spends so little time at home restricts the scope of this conflict. Although the wife's mother usually has considerable authority and the wife sometimes resents being dominated, the positive feelings between mother and daughter are strong enough to bind their negative feelings. Especially if the wife has never lived apart from her mother, she feels dependent on the mother for advice and therefore readily follows her suggestions.

But there is no such positive bond to control the wife's feeling of annoyance with her mother-in-law. If the daughter-in-law does make a serious effort to serve the mother-in-law and is able and loyal, she may at times be treated almost as if she were a daughter instead of a daughter-in-law. But if she is not very competent or comes from a family of lower status than the husband, she may still be treated more like a servant. But even the best relationships are strained, and the strain is likely to be especially severe if the mother-in-law is a widow and lives with her only son.

Unlike the situation in traditional Japan, the critical problem in present-day Mamachi is not the harsh work load required of the daughter-in-law, but the lack of clarity of lines of authority. The mother-in-law has legitimate bases for arguing that the daughter-in-law obey, and the daughter-in-law has legitimate bases for expecting certain privileges. The ideal daughter-in-law is supposed to yield to the mother-in-law, but the ideal mother-in-law should not be harsh with the wife. In contrast to the situation in the United States, where the wife has primary authority, or to the situation in traditional Japan, where the mother-in-law had primary authority, there is no clear guiding principle. The object of the husband's primary loyalty is equally unclear. The answer to the traditional question, "Whom should a husband save if his wife and mother were drowning?" was "His mother" because he could always get another wife. Now the wife and mother are much more on equal grounds in competing for the husband's loyalty, and since there is no clear solution, the situation is one of continuing competition.

Although the mother-in-law occasionally goes out, most of the day both she and the daughter-in-law are at home. The latter generally does the heavy work and the mother-in-law often performs the more complicated tasks of cooking and sewing. But there is no such clear way for dividing up authority. If, for example, the mother-in-law has no income of her own, it is not clear who should decide how much spending money the mother-in-law should have. Since each typically has few interests outside the home, it is hard for the mother-in-law to refrain completely from supervising her daughter-in-law. The latter, in order to avoid the mother-in-law's disapproval, is cautious about going out of the home, buying things for the home, preparing food, and cleaning the house. Even a mere question from the mother-in-law sometimes makes the wife anxious. It is not only the actual commands of the mother-in-law which create the difficulties but the daughter-in-law's feeling of being unable to run the house as she wishes. As some wives put it, they feel as if they are forced to live with an enemy in their home.

The mother-in-law sometimes acts out her annoyance by being more critical and less willing to let the wife go out to visit friends, attend PTA meetings, or buy clothes for herself. The daughter-in-law may act out her annoyance by following the letter of the law laid down by the mother-in-law while defeating the spirit of the mother-in-law's wishes.

The battleground for the dispute is often the children. The grandmother tries to enforce her wishes on the children and to encourage them to resist their mother. The mother tries to win the children to her side and subtly encourages them to disobey their grandmother.

The wife fortifies herself for the struggle by keeping up with the latest information from newspapers, magazines, and books. She tries to keep up with the modern advice, and in discussions with the grandmother she relies heavily on "modern scientific information" to support her point of view and show that the grandmother is old-fashioned and superstitious. The grandmother typically respects scientific information, but sometimes suspects the daughter-in-law of manufacturing the things which she "read in a recent magazine." The mother-in-law relies on her superior experience and her moral conviction that because the daughter-in-law is joining her family, she should learn the family's custom (kafuu ). The mother-in-law, after all, knows her son's likes and knows what it means to rear children. Many a daughter-in-law, not confident of her own ability to please her husband or handle the children's problems, reluctantly yields to the mother-in-law's experience.

If the husband supports either his mother or his wife against the other, his opinion is decisive, and in one way or another, the wife and mother frequently appeal to him for his support against the other. The husband, however, ordinarily tries to stay out of the dispute. He tries to play down the seriousness of the dispute, and to encourage each to be more sympathetic to the other. Only when the husband regards the situation as unbearable or judges one side as being particularly unreasonable does he take the initiative in settling the dispute by encouraging his mother to accept modern ways or the wife to be kind to the aged.

The most commonly suggested solution to the conflict between the two women is for both to show reserve, and to contain themselves even when angry. Many advice columns include hints for how the two could adjust to each other, but the crux of the advice is usually another way for humoring the other one or a way for containing one's own feelings of annoyance.

But the problem involves fundamental attitudes and status relationships. Like the Negro in the American South, the daughter-in-law no longer feels compelled to accept a subservient position. But the price of her emerging freedom is a breakdown of the old social order and an uncontrolled competition between her and her mother-in-law. The Mamachi daughter-in-law has not yet been granted complete freedom even in the most modern family, and a stable new order of relationships has not yet been established except for avoidance, a solution which is not always possible.

Quoted from publishing . cdlib ucpressebooks/view ? docId=ft8z09p23r&chunk . id=d0e3527&toc . id=d0e3409&brand=eschol

*Japanese Bathrooms

In Japan the main purpose of taking a bath, besides cleaning your body, is relaxation at the end of the day.

The typical Japanese bathroom consists of two rooms, an entrance room where you undress and which is equipped with a sink, and the actual bathroom which is equipped with a shower and a deep bath tub. The toilet is almost always located in an entirely separate room. Though in many modern apartments now, for considerations of space, the toilet is also contained in the bathroom and the changing area is absent.

When bathing Japanese style, you are supposed to first rinse your body outside the bath tub with a washbowl. Afterwards, you enter the tub, which is used for soaking only. The bath water tends to be relatively hot for Western bathing standards.

This information quoted from: www . japan-guide .