Richard Beaubien <beaubird@malun1.mala.bc.ca>


Richard Beaubien Presents

A Hime-chan no Ribbon Short Fic

Growing Up

*****

        It was a cool fall Sunday afternoon, with the sun shining through
the window in an attempt to provide heat to the room. The light itself
glistened off the table, where their was room to glisten that is. The
table itself was mostly covered with lose papers and other remnants of
stuff that suggested the desk was in constant (though not organized) use.
Only one corner of the desk seemed to be in proper order, and it contained
a family picture, a stuffed lion, and a slightly worn red ribbon.

        A small sigh could be heard as the door slowly opened to reveal a
young 23 year old girl drying her hair with a towel. With a rather loud
sigh Nonohara Himeko jumped onto her bed, and began to stare at the
ceiling, her long hair spread all over the pillow. She smirked to herself,
the decision to grow her hair long had certainly lead to many problems,
one of them being hair care. But then it also created many good things
too, one of them being that she absolutely looked stunning with long hair.
If their was any doubts that the young tomboy would ever grow into a woman
they were certainly put to rest when the met Himeko today. Even Hibino-san
was startled by her looks, and that caused Himeko to grin.

        But it was a Sunday, and since Himeko was planning to spend most
of the day indoors cleaning up from her recent move which meant neatness
in the hair department was not required. After all she had to finish the
moving job she started last week. Or course that could be done after a few
minutes of napping on the bed. Which was certainly well within the plans
of Himeko for this day. She laughed and turned over again, this time to
face the window and the light that glistened off the desk and it's
contents. One region in particular seemed to shine brighter than the most,
it was the region with the stuffed doll and the ribbon.

        It was the area of the desk that held Pokota.

        For awhile Himeko just stared into the eye's of the stuffed doll
on the desk, and even though it's gaze remained the same as when she first
picked up (as far as Himeko could remember, her memories where a bit foggy
as to when she picked up Pokota) she almost felt as if the eye's held a
bit of anticipation to them. A growing anticaption, almost as if it wanted
to talk to Himeko. Himeko almost laughed at that thought, a talking
stuffed animal was something kid's believed in. It was almost as silly as
believing in a magic kingdom, flying broom and a ribbon that could turn
you into another person. Himeko once believed in these things when she was
a kid, back when she was going to school with Hibano-san and I-chan,
having classes with Gori-sensei, and going to school with Daichi.

        Himeko frowned at that thought, it was when Daichi moved away that
she started to grow up. At first he moved to another district in Tokyo
when they were still in junior high. But somehow they kept their
relationship kept together, as Daichi somehow commuted to school so they
could still be together. After they were destined to be together, or so
Himeko thought after visiting the future. Of course visiting the future
isn't possible, and Daichi and Himeko weren't destined to be together.

        It had all started with Daichi moving really, Himeko remembered.
It was when he moved that Himeko started to grow up. It was when they were
17, and Daichi suddenly moved to Osaka. It wasn't really his's fault, and
his father really couldn't pass up the job as a police chief. They tried
to stay together, visiting each other on the weekends and going on trips
all over Japan. But eventually the pressure of finals caught up to the
both of them, and they eventually stopped seeing each other to study. And
after that it was not all that surprising to find out that started to date
other people. For all intents a purposes that part of life was over for
Himeko, she had grown up.

        Again she stared into the eyes of Pokota who seemed more and more
eager to talk to her, which was rather impossible for an inanimate object
to do. She wondered why she kept the old doll and the ribbon around.
Perhaps it was to remember Daichi and the times they had together. But
that wasn't the reason really, since the two of them had met a couple of
times over the last few years. They had since become friends, and have
even shown each other their respective dates thought they were often
doomed to failure. Of course there was no talk of them getting back
together. They were just friends weren't they. After all she had grown up.

        Pokota seemed to increase his glare at Himeko when she thought
that. It almost looked like it was going to leap out at her if she didn't
talk to it. But it couldn't talk could it, nothing that was inanimate
could talk to anyone. It just simply couldn't happen, could it. She
sighed, the memories still vivid of her changing into other people which
was just her imagination. But then she did change into other people when
she went on stage an acted. She did it every night, and she did it so well
that it became her job. A job so important that she didn't need to think
of childish things, that she didn't have a chance to win back Daichi. That
there really was an Erika out there, looking at her through a crystal ball
and sharing her tragedies with her along with her success. That couldn't
happen...

        But they we're vivid in her mind, memories that seemed to flood.
Memories that stopped her from giving Pokota to Yumeko when she went to
university. Sure she kept it in a box for the first year, but she just
couldn't bear to part with it. Perhaps it could comfort her when she
needed it, and it seemed to do it when ever she struggled through tests or
assignments (though it still puzzled her as to why she brought it out of
it's box at times like that...). It was her friend, her best friend
sometimes...And even though it couldn't talk...

        If it could talk though they would still be friends Himeko smiled.
Perhaps they could share some of the hurt she had, the fact that she
really never got over Daichi. The fact that when ever she met him she
always wondered if they could get together again. But that was an immature
thought, and she had to grow up. She had to get over Daichi. And that
meant giving up all thoughts of him, and all of these fantasies about
magic. They where immature, weren't they.

        Again Pokota glared at her, this boring deep into the sole of
Himeko. She had changed, she was no longer a young tomBoy, she was full
grown woman. Yet still, those feeling nagged at her. She was a grown up
now. She couldn't stay in the past, she had to move on. She had to give up
her childish things. But what was childish, she thought to herself. It was
imagining things like the magic kingdom and brooms wasn't it? Or maybe it
was something more, maybe it was dedication to her friends. Maybe it was
just believing to something and sticking to it.

        Slowly she made her way over to the ribbon, all the while thinking
that grown up really shouldn't think dolls could talk. They weren't human,
or intelligent. But then a grown up shouldn't just abandon a friend. And
Pokota was her friend, he was their through thick and thin...He was with
her always. Holding back a tear, she slowly put the ribbon on and waited
to see what happened. When nothing did, she slowly walked back to the bed
and just lay there. It was all just a dream, wasn't it.

        "Hime-chan?"

        "Pokota!?!"

        "HIME-CHAN!!!"

        It was real, Himeko cried as she ran over to hug her friend. The
tears of the past few years. At last they could be reunited because she
had over come her stubbornness, a stubbornness that nearly cost a
friendship. "Pokota, I have to make a phone call, Okay...Well talk after
that." Hime-chan smiled as she placed the lion down.

        "But to whom?"

        "An old friend, and hopefully a future friend," Hime-chan grinned
as she left the room. "But first, let's do what we used to do to cheer our
selves up?"

        "Really!!!"

        "Yup, Let's do it...Ike, Ike, Go go JUMP!!!" Himeko yelled as she
jumped in the air, finally growing up after all these years.

The End...

C&C always welcome...


Ja ne!!

Richard Beaubien
----------------
Mizuno Ami-chan forever!!!

Fanfic homepage http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~beaubird