Poston

Chapter six : A True Family

They thought about it, but both Nino and Satoshi knew that if they skipped breakfast in the mess hall, then everyone would automatically be worried and would come looking for them. By the time they made it to breakfast, half the camp was already done which meant they had no trouble finding an empty table away from their families. It broke Nino's heart that he couldn't sit with his mother and sister, but if it had to be this way, then he would accept it.

Nino prayed that they could sit down and get away quietly without attracting much attention, but he should have known better. As Nino and Satoshi passed by their table, Masaki stopped them. "Nino!" he smiled gently grabbing his cousin's hand. "Where are you going? Come sit with us."

Nino hesitated. If anyone would understand what he was dealing with or knew how secretly upset he was about the whole situation, Nino knew it would be Masaki. But he couldn't tell him the truth right in front of everyone. Clearing his throat, he said the only thing he could come up with. "Actually, I think I'm going to sit over here with Satoshi."

"But you always sit over here," Masaki said, confusion covering his face. "Why do you—"

"He's been banned from sitting at this table, Masaki," Natsumi spoke up, making everyone but the children in barracks 6D and 2B stop and stare at her. "Kazu and Satoshi are no longer allowed to sit with us."

"Why?" Masaki asked.

Natsumi looked over at the man in charge of the Ohno family. "Why don't you ask our newcomer over here?" she replied coldly with a bit of anger and hatred in her voice. "He's the one who disowned his own son last night for falling in love."

It took about five seconds for everyone to understand what exactly was going on. They looked between Mr. Ohno to Satoshi and Nino and put two and two together. Everyone was silent, unsure as to how to respond or what to say until Jun all but slammed his fork down on the table and pushed his bowl away. Nino recognized that look in his eyes. It was the same fire he had given Nino when he had insulted him the second day they were in Poston.

"You disowned Satoshi?" Jun asked angrily towards his uncle. "Tell me you did not really do this."

Mr. Ohno looked up at Jun. "He's the one who wants to participate in sinful behavior. I will not allow it around my family."

"He's your son!"

"He's a disgrace to the family!"

"Just like I am?"

"You have no right to compare your family to ours!"

"Like hell I don't!" Jun exploded, nearly making the half full mess hall stop and look at him.

"Jun-chan," Mrs. Ohno said gently. "Please, calm down. Don't make a scene."

Jun remained standing as he stared at his uncle, smoke nearly coming out of his ears. Nino watched as the man tried to keep himself calm, and how much it was taking him to really accomplish that. Then, Jun gathered up his plate and fork and climbed out from the bench he was sitting on. "Samantha, Charlie, c'mon. Let's go have breakfast with Uncle Satoshi."

"Hai," the two children answered as they followed their father with their plates.

Then Masaki stood up with his plate. "I'm going with them too," he told his parents and brother.

Mr. Aiba nodded his approval, and Mrs. Aiba smiled and rubbed her eldest son's arm encouragingly. "Okay," she said. "Do what you need to do."

Sho cleared his throat. "I do understand why you would be so against them," he said. "As a Christian, I do acknowledge that the Bible is completely against any sort of activity like this. However...." Sho looked up at Mr. Ohno. "The Bible also says that everyone is made perfectly in God's own image. You don't choose who you fall in love with no more than I get to choose who my family is. I have nothing against Nino and Satoshi. They've treated me and my family with nothing but kindness since we've arrived in this place." Sho grabbed his plate and Yuki's plate. "You disowning your son is none of my business, but if you are going to continue to stew and be angry every time Satoshi walks into the room, then I am also going to leave. I will not surround my daughter with the negative energy that you seem to be bringing with you. Mrs. Ohno, Mrs. Ninomiya, please excuse us."

Sho and Yuki got up then and started making their way over to Nino and Satoshi when Mai got up as well and followed them.

All Nino and Satoshi could do is just stand there in shock as the rest of the group went and sat down at an empty table. Nino was so surprised at everyone's reaction that he had no idea how to react himself. Mr. Ohno looked like he was ready to commit murder any second now, his wife sitting silently by his side. Mama and Natsumi had a look of pride on their faces as everyone got up, and somehow knowing that those two were supporting him completely made Nino feel better.

"Let's go sit down," Satoshi said grabbing Nino's elbow gently before leading him to a table. Nino could only nod before he sat down next to Satoshi.

"Papa," Samantha spoke up. "Why did we get up and move over here?"

"Samantha, we're helping stand up for Uncle Satoshi," Jun answered.

"But we're sitting down, Papa," Samantha said.

Her father laughed. "It's another way of saying we are supporting him."

"Oh," Samantha said smiling. She looked at her uncle. "Uncle Satoshi, I support you!"

Satoshi and Nino smiled. "Thank you," Satoshi replied for the both of them.

--

Since Nino and Satoshi didn't really have their own jobs yet, they stayed at home with their mothers and reluctantly helped with some of the chores. Mama talked on and on like she usually did on any normal day, but Mrs. Ohno talked only to Mama and not the two boys. Nino could sense that Satoshi was nervous about how broken the relationship was going to be between him and his mother, but nothing any of them did worked in trying to get her to talk to her son.

When Mr. Ohno got home that night after working all day to get a job, he acknowledged the boys, but only in a negative way. "You're still here?" he asked coldly as he walked in. "I thought you two faggots would be out of here by now."

Satoshi kept his head down, but Nino faced him head on. "We still have a corner to call ours," he answered the old man. "Why would we leave?"

"Who gave you permission to talk?" Mr. Ohno snapped at him.

Natsumi and Ayumi walked in then and smiled as they walked through the door. "We're home!" Natsumi called as they took off their coats. "Who knew that a desert could bring such chilly air?" She looked around and immediately could sense the tension in the air already. "It's only five o'clock, and you're already fighting with each other?"

"We're not fighting," Nino answered her.

"Who gave you permission to talk?" Mr. Ohno asked again.

"I'm talking to my sister, sir," Nino told him. "Am I allowed to talk to my family at least?"

"Stop arguing," Mama replied looking up. "Both of you. You're never going to be able to live here together if you keep it up."

"Mrs. Ninomiya has a point, Papa," Ayumi agreed looking at her father. "You don't have to like them, but could you at least try to be civil with them?"

"We never should have come to this country, Seiran," Mr. Ohno stated, ignoring his daughter as he sat down. "If we were still in Japan, maybe we would still be in our own house and our son wouldn't be such a shame and disgrace to the family name."

"So if Satoshi is such a disgrace to you, does that mean that I'm a disgrace to my name as well?" Nino asked.

"Of course not—" Mama started.

"I never told you that you could talk, dog!" Mr. Ohno yelled.

Nino couldn't control himself as he stood up, ready to pounce on the man. "I'm a dog now?!"

"Kazunari, calm down," Natsumi said walking up to her brother. "Just forget it."

"I can't forget it, Natsumi," he said looking at his sister. "This is the man who is doing nothing but hurting and insulting his son! I can't just sit her and let him get away with it!"

"Mama, say something!" Ayumi exclaimed going over to her mother. "Can't you do anything to stop Papa from saying such mean things?"

Finally, Mrs. Ohno looked up and looked straight at her son, who shivered as he looked back. "I agree with your father, Ayumi," she said. "Maybe if we had stayed in Japan, such disgusting thoughts wouldn't have entered my son's head."

For the first time since everything happened, Satoshi fell apart. His shoulders slumped, his hands stopped moving on whatever he was sewing, his mouth was left gaping, and tears began to fall freely from his eyes. "Mama," Satoshi mumbled barely above a whisper.

Mrs. Ohno, on the other hand, showed no emotion or remorse. "I always had this feeling about you," she answered. "But I prayed that you would grow out of it, not succumb to it. We came to America to bring pride to this family for the first time, and all you've done is break and destroy any chance we had of obtaining it."

"Mama," Satoshi gasped, quickly moving over to his mother to take her hands in his. "Please, Mama—"

Then, Mrs. Ohno did something that shocked everyone. She pulled her hands quickly from her son's and slapped him right across the face, making his tears stop for a split instant as he stared back at her in surprise.

No one said a word. No one even dared to breathe. No one could even think of going over to Satoshi to help him stand back up. The only one who seemed to be making any sounds was Satoshi, who was sitting there gasping and sobbing as realization finally hit him.

"I want you out of this barrack," Mrs. Ohno told him. "Tonight. I don't want to see you for the rest of the night."

Nino could barely feel himself as he went over to Satoshi and helped him stand up. Satoshi felt cold and was still in a state of shock as he was gently pulled away from his mother and out of the door into the dark, chilly night.

"I hope you're proud of yourself," Nino told Mrs. Ohno before he followed the older man outside.

--

The two men ended up in barrack 6D, sitting in a corner of the room while the Aiba's, Sakurai's, and Matsumoto's all went to dinner in the mess hall. For the longest time, neither man said a word. They just sat in silence and listened to the wind hit against the tar wooden walls around them. When the residents of the block came back, no one asked what had happened. They didn't have to ask.

"Satoshi, Kazunari," Mrs. Aiba said coming over to them and placing a bowl of rice in front of them. "You two are more than welcome to stay here as long as you need to."

"Thank you Auntie," Nino said, close to tears himself. Satoshi hadn't moved or reacted to anything since planting himself in Nino's arms in the corner. To be honest, it was scaring Nino.

"You two can take this bed," Masaki said setting up a futon on the floor next to them after moving some stuff out of the way. "This was an extra they gave us. They gave us a mattress for everyone in the barrack, but the kids share a bed, and so do Mama and Papa. We have three extra mattresses, so you can have this one. Here are some pajamas for you guys, too."

"Thank you," Nino responded again. He nudged Satoshi, who finally moved and looked at him. "Let's go to sleep."

It took a few seconds for it to register, but when it did, Satoshi nodded. "Okay," he said.

"Time for you three to get to bed too," Jun told the children.

"Aw, do we have to Papa?" Charlie asked. "I'm not even tired!"

"Bed," Jun said again.

Frowning, the three children got off the beds and went to their suitcases to pull out some night clothes. Mai and Mrs. Aiba stayed with the children to get dressed for bed as well as Sho pulled the curtain to give them privacy. The men dressed for bed on the other side of the curtain, and only when everyone was dressed did the curtain get pulled back again, revealing the women and kids in their night clothes.

"Yosh!" Sho smiled picking up his little girl to have her stand on the bed in front of him. "Now, Yuki-chan, anything to tell Papa before you go to bed?"

"Hmm," Yuki thought. "Just one something."

"What is that?"

"I hope that Mr. Ninomiya and Mr. Ohno can smile tomorrow."

The Aiba's smiled to themselves as they made their beds listening to Yuki state her wish.

"I hope so too," Sho told her. "Now, who does Yuki Sakurai love?"

"Yuki Sakurai loves her mama and papa more than anything in the whole entire world!" Yuki smiled, stretching her arms out as wide as she could make them.

"Papa's happy!" her father laughed as he took her into his arms for a big hug. Yuki laughed, hugging him back before Sho set her back down on the bed to put her under the covers.

Jun faced his two children. "Now, what do we wish for tonight?" he asked.

"For Uncle Satoshi and Mr. Ninomiya not to be sad anymore," Samantha answered.

"And for God to give us rolls for breakfast," Charlie responded.

Jun smiled before kissing the tops of his children's heads. "Papa loves you both very much."

"We love Papa too," the two smiled as they hugged him tightly. After a few seconds, they let go and climbed into bed with Yuki under the covers.

By now, all the adults were in their beds and under their covers as well. Jun was the only one left standing as he reached to turn off the lamp. "Good night everyone," he called out to the entire barrack.

"Good night," everyone responded before the barrack went dark.

--

Nino and Satoshi stayed in barrack 6D for two days before Mr. and Mrs. Aiba came and handed them an official yellow paper. "What's this?" Nino asked as he took it.

"That is our transfer notice," Mrs. Aiba smiled. "We have been transferred into barrack 2B, and you have been transferred into 6D. Permanently."

Both Nino and Satoshi stared at him in disbelief. "What?!" Nino said. "Wait. What do you—"

"You can't go back living in that barrack," Mr. Aiba answered. "It makes you both miserable. And that way I can be with my sister in case she happens to get sick like she does sometimes. You two can share this barrack with everyone else. We both think you'll be much happier here."

Nino couldn't believe it. His family was willing to do this? For him? And for Satoshi? "Auntie, Uncle," he began.

"Go get your belongings," Mrs. Aiba said, gently stroking her nephew's cheek. "It's moving day."