Homework? Not a chance! (Takumi- open tag!)

[fryn]

"I am finding America... different," Takumi replied, not even close to realising Mr Kim had been pointedly asking him if he and Izzy were sleeping together. It came in handy not fully understanding English on occassion! "Life here is unlike anything I knew in Osaka but... rather than me trying to adapt and be the same as everyone else I am finding it better to remain my own person. People have seemed to accept me for what I am. But as for Izzy..." Takumi turned his head slightly to throw her a warm smile but it was one that morphed into a look of confusion when he saw her expression. Why was she apologising? "We are having great fun together, Kim-san," he said with an enthusiastic nod of his head. "We are always riding..." Takumi paused. "My Vespa. I have a scooter. We are always off on that and doing something together. She is a daughter to be proud of."

Takumi frowned when Izzy jumped to her feet and excused herself. He wanted to cry out for her to stay... Not to leave him alone with her father. The man clearly disapproved of Takumi and yet the Japanese youth was unsure why. He hardly knew him.

"Izzy...?" he tried but she'd gone. Now what was he supposed to do? Go after her and see what was upsetting her? Or stay here and continue trying to converse with her father? The former seemed preferrable and so what if it was the coward's choice.

"I will see if she is alright," he said to Mr Kim.

[Izzy Chen]

Mr. Kim looked at Taki, "Riding...." He did not like the sound of that, but Taki covered nicely. "Your Vespa. That is good." He said to the young lad. Before Mr. Kim could ask anything else his daughter made a break for it. He watched her go and then watched Taki go as he sat there sipping a cup of coffee. He was being a dad, making sure the man his daughter was with was a good man. Of course back in Korea there was no dating, it was arranged marriages. At least that's how it happened in his family.

Izzy was on the back porch and that's where Taki found her. It was not hard to find her. She was standing right in front of the glass door. She eyed Taki who came outside to join her, "Sorry I just could not sit in there anymore. That was embaressing. Please don't hold my father against me." Although that's not the reason she had tears down her cheeks.

"I feel like everytime I run into you, you have to comfort me and I am sorry. I don't want to be the girlfriend who turns every encounter into a sad one." Izzy said. She wanted things with Taki to be fun and carefree, but since the death of her mother it had been anything but fun. Which sucked. "I left cause I started to think about my mom...you would think I would be all cried out...apparently not." Izzy sighed. "I am sorry about tonight. You have been so great in this situation." What guy could handle a room full of people speaking a foreign language and a father who was asking embaressing questions.

[fryn]

Takumi leaned against her, their shoulders touching. "Why were you embarassed, Izzy?" he asked. "Your father is just making sure that I am not out to harm you but I have to admit his questions are strange. Enjoying you is an odd way to ask me if we are having fun together. Also I have to admit I don't know what 'intentions' means but nothing he has asked me has made me feel awkward."

He frowned slightly, hating to see her cry. "I don't want you to be sad either," he said in response. "I know you are sad about your okasama and I really do understand," he went on. "I hope that after her funeral you will start to feel a little less pain and think of her with better memories but your father isn't as bad as I was fearing. He clearly lvoes you and cares about you. I feel, though, that I am not quite what he would approve of." Maybe the outfit he'd chosen hadn't been all that suitable after all but it was too late to remedy that now.

"Do you want to go back in? Or shall we stay out here for a little while longer? Although... if we do stay here then I think your father will soon come searching for us!"

[Izzy Chen]

"That's because you do not know what intentions mean." Izzy said with a small smirk. "He basically is asking you if you and I are having sex and if you plan to ditch or if you like me enough to stay with me." Izzy told Taki. "I told you...it's embarrassing. But in Korea there is no such thing as dating, it's mostly arranged when both parties are of age." Its what her and her mother had been fighting about before they died, was this whole idea of an arrange marriage. No thank you. Izzy was only seventeen. She was way not focused on marriage in anyway. She wanted fun and to be a teenager. This just shows you how different cultures can be.

"I want to stay out here for a little longer...in your arms." Izzy said. "My dad is just very old fashioned. Do not worry about him or his approval, cause I like you...a lot and I approve of you and my brother likes you...thats all I need." She said quietly. "I know my mom would have liked you too." She said. "I think as the funeral grows near it just it gets harder. I have a mixture of feelings and I am trying to be fine with it all, but it's getting over whelming." Izzy admitted.

"And I don't do good with over whelming. I am trying to be fine fore everyone, my family and the relatives, but it's so hard to be fine all the time, when I am....I am not fine....at least not fight now." Izzy admitted, which had been hard enough cause she was not fine in anyway. She lost her mother and now her father, as much as he loved her, was trying to embarrass her in front of her boyfriend, no she was not fine.

[fryn]

"Ah, so... He was asking me that." Takumi grinned. "Then perhaps it is just as well I didn't understand, hai?" Ditch... He'd look that word up later. He got the idea it meant to leave her. "I have to admit I don't get the idea of arranged marriages. It is better to love your partner and not be forced into things. But then I also know other countries have different ways of looking at stuff. I suppose some of my own culture must seem... unusual but to me it is just how things are done."

"Lets sit on the porch," he suggested and the pair dropped down with Takumi resuming his former position, his arms around her. "I don't think I will ever earn your father's approval, though." And that actually mattered to him as respect for parents was high in the Japanese way of life. Still, Kim-san would soon be returning to Korea and their lives could resume as normal. Unless, of course, he took Izzy with him...

He listened as Izzy spoke and the more she continued the tighter his embrace became. "This can't be easy," he said when she came to a halt. "And no one expects you to be... fine. I wish I could have met your mother... The way you speak of her... she sounds like a really nice person. The funeral... Did you want me to be there with you? I don't want to intrude in a family affair but..."

[Izzy Chen]

"You did very well with what he was asking, and when you said the part about us riding, I swear his whole face turned red until you told him about the vespa." That actually made Izzy laugh a little. It had been funny. " Izzy nodded, "Personally I think I am way to young to even know about marriage or arranged marriages. Thats the last thing on my mind. But some cultures I guess...its normal when you are a teen." Izzy shrugged. Well not in America and not for her.

Izzy leaned back against Taki. Her back laying against his chest. "You don't need my father's approval. He barely my dad. I mean yeah he is acting like it, but I barely know him. He barely knows me. The person who mattered was my mother. She raised me...use to take me to different movie sets when she was acting. As I got older she began to hire a sitter when she would leave. She is my parent. My dad is just some guy who is leaving on Saturday and probably wont be back until my wedding." She did not know how much an approval meant to Taki. Neither did the pair see Mr. Kim watching them.

"If I am honest, my mom was a bitch. She left us for most of the year barely coming home on holiday's. But she was my mom and she had her moments when she was the best mom. She would come back and we would go shopping, she would spend all her time with Jett and I when she did not have some social function to go to. This would last until her next photo shoot or movie. But I loved her." Izzy said with a tiny smile. "I want you to be there...i need you there...."

[fryn]

Would it have been bad of Takumi to admit he knew exactly what he'd been hinting at with the 'riding' comment and had only said it to try and make Izzy laugh. It came in handy sometimes that people were aware of a certain language defincit but in that instance the 'mistake' had been vwery much intended. He laughed along with her, glad of the slight release of tension.

"I have to admit I am not looking for a wife right this minutes myself!" he replied. "I have no intention of settling down for a good few years at least." They were both far too young to even contemplate that sort of thing.

"The thing is, Izzy, in my culture respect is highly important. Respect and, in return, approval. Your father doesn't give me that approval and so it is hard to find acceptance. I had hoped he would think differently. " wish... I mean..." He drew his fingers through his hair. "I wish this had turned out differently but... there is nothing I can really do to change his mind in such a short time." Perhaps even ever. "He will still have my respect whether he wishes for it or not," he finished in a low voice.

He nodded slightly when Izzy told him she wanted him to be there at the funeral. "Then so I shall be, anata," he assured her. "And for you I will try and find something to wear that is less... aaaah... unusual... hai?" He plucked at the French flag fabric as he spoke and threw her a wry grin. "There is a country that has more sombre colours in their flag, I hope!" As hoped Izzy laughed slightly once more. Clothing, though, was sure to prove an issue. Maybe his otosan had a suit he could borrow...?

[Izzy Chen]

"I have plans....there is college, traveling......so many things I would rather think about." She said smiling at him. They were in high school. Who got married in high school. Her father was acting as if Izzy was twenty seven and not seventeen. Perhaps in his culture the women grew up fast, but not in hers. "You never cease to amaze me. Your kind heart....how did I get so lucky to find such a nice and understanding guy." Izzy said smiling as she looked up at Taki. Being in his arms was working. The tension was leaving her body.

"It warms my hear that despite the first meeting between you and my father, that he has your respect. I have a feeling you can still earn his respect. He is my father and just wants to know I am taken care of. You are doing a good job of that." Izzy told Taki. Hopefully her father would see that too.

Izzy kissed some exposed skin on his neck as he agreed. "Thank you." She did laugh as he spoke about colors of a flag. "I have a feeling this funeral might not be so sad. If you can find a flag with somber colors i will personally do anything you ask of me." She said teasing and laughing. For once she felt the pressure leave her body. She felt safe, and happy in the face of all this sadness. "But thank you...so much for being here for me."

[fryn]

"Where else would I be?" Takumi reasoned and his arm tightened slightly around her as Izzy dropped her head onto his shoulder. He had a feeling Kim-san's respect would play an elusive game. Would it be one Takumi would win? Unlikely but he intended to play fairly and by the rules. Besides, winning wasn't always the only victory and he was determined to maintain his own respect for her father... whatever the outcome.

They sat together for a good ten minutes longer before Takumi drew in a deep breath. "And now we have to brave the lion in his den once more," he said in a low voice. He had to return home shortly but wasn't about to make a run for it without making his proper farewells. That would have been both impolite and out of character for Yoshino Takumi.. He had a lot to deal with once he reached home - namely finding suitable cloths for the funeral. It would feel weird wearing 'proper' clothes but for Izzy he would do it... and willingly.

They climbed to their feet and Takumi brushed grit off the 'French flag'. He gripped her hand firmly in his as they headed back inside.

For Izzy he would do anything... even be.... Takumi swallowed heavily... normal.

[Izzy Chen]

"Can't we stay out her a little longer." Izzy said faking whining. She knew they had to go inside. She felt much better now. She held her hand out and took his offered one as he lifted her up. Her small frame coming right up like a rag doll almost. Men and their strength. Or was she that light. "You are making it very hard not to keep falling for you." Izzy said with a smile. She gave Taki one last passionate kiss before they headed back inside. She smiled at him. "What time am i to be at your house tomorrow?" She remembered she had dinner with his family planned for tomorrow. Which was good.

She needed a little break from her own family. Besides the idea of meeting Taki's family actually mad her nervous. But in a good way, yet a scary way too. part of her wondered if she should meet them now, what if they did not like her? Oh Izzy hoped his family liked her? She could worry about that tomorrow. Right now her hand was holding his as they walked back into the den. Lions den was right. The best part about Taki was his clothes. He amazed her so much and she liked who he was a lot.

"Hello father." Izzy said as they reentered. Mr. Kim checked his watch and folded the paper he had been reading. "You both were gone for a while." Of course he had seen it so Mr. Kim knew the kids were just being young kids who were in like of each other.