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Post by verboob on Jan 23, 2012 22:05:07 GMT -5
 Watakushi wa kono josei to kekkonshi
Fufu to narou to shite imasu
Watakushi wa kenkouna tokimo
Soudenai tokimo
Kono hito o aishi
Kono hito o uyamai
Kono hito o nagusame
Kono hito o tasuke
Watakushi no inochi no kagiri
Kataku sessou o mamoru koto o
Chikai masu. The weather was perfect for a wedding, a light gentle breeze and the sun had been shining. The only words he had ever said to her were in Japanese and they had been their vows and the phone call he made as a suitor for her to marry. Ezra found her beautiful, she had beautiful hair and soft skin – she looked more radiant than her pictures on the computer screen. No one knew that the only phone call he made on his day off was to Akeno and that he was nervous, a panic attack brewing in his stomach as they talked. He was fluent, he spoke to her in Japanese and the arrangements were made. He bought a flight ticket later that evening and was on his way to Japan the following day. Stepping off the plane, there was no one to greet him when he got off the plane, but as he set foot in the soil, he knew that it was the last time he would be a single man. He didn’t know what prompted his heart to want a wife, but he felt the pressure from his parents to find a bride. He assumed that it would look better to the people he worked for if she was Japanese as he was ambassador to Japan. Anata wa, kenko na tokimo,
soudenai tokimo, kono hito o aishi,
kono hito o uyamai, kono hito o nagusame,
kono hito o tasukete,
sono inochi no kagiri kataku
sessou o mamoru koto o chikaimasu ka?Now they were settling into their hotel room, as Ezra was giving up his apartment to buy a house for them. He felt almost guilty not taking her to his apartment, but it was a bachelor pad if she ever did see one and he wanted her to pick out everything from their house, to the color of the walls, the furniture, and the thread count in their sheets. It was his way of making her feel adjusted to her new life, but he was worried what she thought of him. He didn’t have any ill intentions for her and he planned on making her fall for him like any normal boy would. Ezra had dated in the past and one time he shared his intimate first time with a girl at Halloween party. He didn’t see her after that night and he had been crushed. He stuck to coffee dates, a critical judgment, and then stuck to texting and movies. Movies didn’t include making out, it meant watching the move. Ezra Redling had become something unorthodox: he was a prude where men his age had been with multiple women. He chose Akeno because a part of him deep down knew, as a mail order bride she needed him and wouldn’t leave until he was ready to open up to her. Hai, chikaimasu. He watched her wander their hotel room as he sat down and opened his laptop. He didn’t know how he felt sharing a space with a woman he married without knowing and brought her back with him. They still had to file for marriage in America, but Ezra wouldn’t rush out right now. He had severe jetlag and a headache. He wanted a glass of rum and coke, but he didn’t want his new wife to judge him just yet. He was choking up on words to try the conversation but he felt it was his job to do it. To say the first words to her as she wandered back from their bedroom. He didn’t know how he was going to be able to share a bed with her. Was she thinking that they were going to have sex because it was their first night together? Technically it could still be seen as their wedding night if they excluded the plane ride. “Would you… like to go out for dinner?”
words :: 700 tagged :: akeno outfit :: above translation notes:
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Post by akeno on Feb 2, 2012 12:08:25 GMT -5
 In many ways, Akeno was not a meek woman. She'd become independent over the years due to her family always teetering on bankruptcy, but in some ways she still was very meek. When she got in uncomfortable situations, she grew very quiet and obedient, and this was one of those times. the wedding had been simple and small with all of the usual vows and events as japanese weddings go. ezra spoke perfect japanese - albeit with an american accent - and she appreciated that he understood her need for a husband even if she wasn't marrying for love. the little bit she'd come to know of him, she understood that he was the japanese ambassador from america, and she imagined his reasons for needed to be married would be similar to her own: desperation. while her desperation was based off of her family's need for money, she knew his was something else, but desperation is the same no matter the reason.
quietly, she stood in the bathroom of the expensive, overly decorated hotel room and tried not to feel intimidated as she unpacked her toiletries and placed them on the counter top around the sink. she'd never been anywhere so opulent, the closest being the nice school her parents had practically gone broke to send her to. thankfully, she'd gotten herself a scholarship for that so her parents hadn't gone in the hole then, but now they were going bankrupt, and this was her second form of 'scholarship'. akeno had been honest with her 'husband' from the beginning: she needed the freedom to send money back to her parents to keep them alive and fed. they believed she'd met the handsome american man in tokyo and they'd fallen in love and gotten married. her parents had no idea about the mail order bride website or her loveless marriage with a man she didn't even know. ezra seemed nice enough but there was the simple fact that they just didn't even know one another. akeno had not married for love and she had no illusions that it would come to her. this was the life she'd chosen for herself, and she would succeed at it even if it meant she wouldn't be as happy as she would have been if she'd married the love of her life.
ezra's voice brought her out of her thoughts, and she paused a moment before replying. often these pauses made her appear stupid around english-speaking people, but it was merely her taking a moment to translate everything from english into japanese in her head and then formulating her response and translating that from japanese into english so she could answer. "that would be well," she responded, her grammar poor despite her best efforts. she'd always excelled at english in school, but speaking it every day was a different matter entirely. a girl couldn't be expected to know the difference between the three versions of "there" or whether 'worst' or 'most bad' was the correct form of description.
leaving the bathroom, she left the now-empty toiletries bag in her suitcase and pointed toward the expansive closet where her clothes were already hanging in orderly little rows. "i change, yes?" |
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Post by verboob on Feb 3, 2012 16:01:47 GMT -5
 Ezra didn’t have a reason to search the pages of real estate agents before he wed Akeno. He travelled every month, from America to Japan – he stayed in hotel rooms that were all expense paid by the government. This hotel room, for what he was used to, was modest and ordinary. To his new bride, it must have been overwhelming and lavish, but it could have been more excessive. Although it was their honeymoon, there were two separate rooms just in case he couldn’t handle them sharing the same bed. He didn’t want her thinking she had to throw herself on him because of what she was a mail-order bride, because he didn’t think he was exactly ready for her in the way. He had a limited amount of time before he had to return to Japan without her, for work, and she needed to be settled in a house. He knew she planned on getting a job, which was fine by him. She was set on sending her parents money monthly and it was not his place to tell her she wasn’t aloud. If he had a trip upcoming, he would send it to them in person. If not, they would have it wired. He had many things to do, for Akeno’s safety and adjusting into life in California. He had to hire a driver until she got used to driving on what to her was the opposite side of the road. Before he hired the temporary or permanent driver, he needed to take her car shopping. He wanted to get the car she wanted right the first time, instead of buying one he thought suited her. From there he needed to set up bank accounts for her: a checking account to spend and a savings account for her own savings, starting with the lump sum he promised her from the start. He would set up a joint account, to put money in as she found things for their house. First they had to find their house or land to build one. Whatever she wanted, he didn’t care. He hardly felt that it would be his own home as he would only be there when he had down time. It’s not like they were the nineteen-sixty family where he came home to housewife with cupcakes and kisses on his cheek, taking off his blazer, and giving him a beer to relax. Their arrangement, this marriage, was hardly anything like a new marriage would be. There was a stiff barrier of a couple of people who didn’t know each other. He was already dreading their first evening out together, but he had to do it. They had to start somewhere and if his body was going to attempt to lie next to hers in the same bed, he would at least like a little get to know each other conversation before then. She came out from the bathroom where she was setting her things and asked him she should change. “Yes, change into something semi-formal, we’re going to a nice, fine dining place and I tend to attract cameras.” He went to his own closet as she went to hers, but he was a quick change. He chose a slate grey suit, accented with a red tie and handkerchief in his chest pocket. He polished his shoes briefly after noticing a scuff. He walked back out to the kitchen, downing a refreshing glass of cold ice water while he waited. She didn’t take too long, to his surprise but he assumed she was walking on egg-shells. Offering his arm, he led her down to the car and opened the door to his vehicle as they brought it out front. Opening the door, he let her sit inside before shutting the door after him. He took a moment to collect his cool, his nerves were causing his stomach to quiver and do mini-flips. It’s not as if this small woman was going to poison him, but you never know when he did meet her on the web and married her within a short amount of time. He was putting blind faith into that she didn’t have any vicious ulterior motives. He drove her to a restaurant and parked before going over to let her out and offer his arm. This was his wife, after all, and they were newly married. They should look like they are in love to everyone who saw them. As they were seated, Ezra pulled out her chair and waited for her to sit before he sat down. The waitress told them the house specials and she walked off giving them a moment to think over what they wanted to drink. When she returned, he mentioned a hot coffee and the attention turned to Akeno. “For you?”
words:: 800
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