Ruins
The apartment was small. Every apartment she’d seen in New York City was small. Ousaka Shizuku was having some difficulty adjusting, used to striding boldly around her childhood home. Now, if she moved too fast in the kitchen, one of her wife’s baking tools would hit the floor. Nakasu Kasumi fit right in, as cozy as a cat, curling up on the couch or the bed, begging for attention without saying a word. Shizuku often found giving in to an irresistible temptation. But right now, Kasumi was at rehearsal. Shizuku had another week before her latest show had its readthrough. Which left her with free time and no barriers against her curiosity.
Letters were spread all over the table. Shizuku knew she was invading Kasumi’s privacy, but Shizuku had helped Kasumi answer fan letters before and realized that Kasumi kept the negative ones away from her. Now Shizuku could see why...the snide whining on this page, accusing Kasumi of unfaithfulness to the actress she’d starred with in Cute As A Button, Queer As a Stranger. The next was full of predictions of the end of Kasumi’s marriage to Shizuku. The next spewed profanity about their joint Vanity Fair photoshoot warping young minds. Another was a story with a graphic description of Shizuku’s....Shizuku pushed away from the table, rattling cabinets. She would have done better to do household chores…
“Shizuko?” Kasumi opened the door, about to take off her coat when she saw Shizuku frozen. “What happened?”
Shizuku’s guilty eyes immediately went to the mail.
“Shizuko...what did you do?” Teasing, Kasumi picked up the top letter. Then her eyes narrowed, anger sparking deep. “I’m sorry you read that.”
“Why do you keep them?”
Kasumi sighed, “Let’s have tea.”
“Okay.”
The domestic bustle of making tea relaxed Shizuku, as did Kasumi silly kissing her every 30 seconds. By the time Shizuku was curled up against Kasumi on their super comfy couch, she’d even managed to laugh a few times. The tea had no caffeine, but a very warming cinnamon ginger spice that went well with the cookies Kasumi had warmed.
“So why?” Shizuko asked quietly.
“In case anyone takes action, I have them for the police.”
“Kasumi!” Shizuku flashed to a threat she’d read, about slashing Kasumi’s face. Shaky, she dropped her tea cup, raising both hands to cup Kasumi’s cheeks. “You never show me these. Do you not tell me…”
Kasumi shook her head. “No, Shizuku. I wouldn’t keep anything like that from you.”
“Why don’t my fans…”
Kasumi shrugged, “Kasumin is the cutest star and idol, who belongs to everyone. So her fans take things personally. Shizuku is the world’s foremost interpreter of dull, dead, political dudes so her fans plot to overthrow tyrants, not bully cute girls.”
“Ha! My next show is a comedy.”
“Kasumin has already purchased opening night tickets.” Kasumi decided it had been too long between kisses, smoothing Shizuku’s hair back to sneak in earlobe nibbles.
“How do you cope?” Shizuku rasped out.
Kasumi pouted, “Kasumin comes home all lovey dovey and…”
“Kasumi-love?”
Kasumi heard concern in Shizuku’s voice, saw worry in her brilliant blue eyes and hugged her tighter. “My parents always said it was more about the person hating than me...Obachan used to deal with it a lot...she always said hating things that made other people happy rotted you out from the inside, like the ruins of an ancient castle. Kinda pathetic.”
Kasumi sounded sad. Shizuku snuggled closer, her head on Kasumi’s shoulder, “And they still think they’re your fans?”
“Yeah, they can’t seem to get away from it, like a splinter. But,” And Kasumi waved her finger in the air, a teacher pointing to a solution, “Kasumin’s always going to be the cheerfulest and cutest for her biggest fans. No matter what. And maybe it’ll help some of the others.”
“You always help me.”
Kasumi’s voice tightened, much sterner. “And Shizuko needs to stop helping me. There’s a penalty for reading Kasumin’s mail, you know.”
“And what’s that?”
A tickling whisper, “You’ll see.”