Hollywood Princess

Chapter 6: A Princess in Distress

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I had stayed in contact with my parents during the lockdown, telling them about Yuki and that we were dating. They were happy for me and Yuki, and insisted on Facetime calls with Yuki and me so they could meet "their future daughter-in-law!" They quickly fell in love with Yuki just as I had, and were overjoyed that she made me so happy. My parents informed me that Hollywood studios would be resuming filming soon, so it would be back to work for all of us.

In October of 2021, my Mother arrived back in Tokyo to resume filming on her latest project. My Father was in Nevada filming a Western. Dr. Ito graciously invited my mother over for dinner and offered her a place to stay after she arrived back in town. My mother graciously accepted it would be a few days before her Studio Rented house would be ready. It was a new experience spending so much time with my Mother, especially out of character. We chatted about Hollywood gossip, and about acting. She complimented my fashion choices and told me she thought I looked adorable. The few days spent in the Ito household allowed her to get to know Yuki too, and she quickly embraced Yuki as her daughter. It was a happy couple of days, things were feeling like they were getting back to normal, possibly better than normal since I was getting to spend so much time with my Mom.

On the fourth day after arriving in Japan, my Mother received a distressing phone call. I couldn't tell what was being said, but I could see she was upset. After five minutes she hung up the phone, and upon disconnecting immediately broke down in tears. I rushed to her, asking her what was wrong, what happened. Through her sobs, she told me that my Father had been involved in an on-set accident while attempting a stunt.

The prop department gave his co-star a gun that was loaded with blanks, or so they said. During the scene, the gun went off, and your father was shot and passed away right there on set. To say I was shocked, would be an understatement. How could this be? My Dad was a superhero, a super soldier, how could he die? I had never experienced death, especially not in someone so close, I didn't have a frame of reference for how to process everything. I just hugged my mother tightly and sobbed right along with her.

My mother and I chartered a jet out of Tokyo immediately, needing to get back to take care of my father's estate. I was in shock and didn't say much of anything for a while. I just sat on the floor blankly staring into the space in front of me. After giving me space for the first hour, I felt Yuki wrap her arms around me and cuddle into me. She didn't say anything, she just held me close. Just feeling her warmth and reassurance soothed me a bit, and I started to come out of my stupor. After just cuddling like that for fifteen minutes, she finally spoke.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

I just leaned into her and nodded yes, just letting myself be held by her. Shortly after, our car arrived to take us to the private airport. Very kindly, Dr. Ito had assisted my mother in getting a bag packed for myself and Yuki so we would have something to wear upon arriving in Los Angeles.

Yuki and my Mother both slept on the flight, but sleep wouldn't find me. I always did have trouble falling asleep in moving vehicles as I grew up, I suppose I didn't as a baby, but all babies fall asleep in the car eventually. Eight hours later we finally arrived at a private airport in Los Angeles.

As we exited the jet I caught a brief glimpse of myself and was not thrilled with what I saw. You could see the tiredness on my face, my eyes were dull and lifeless, and there were large bags under my eyes. Having glanced out the plane windows as we taxied in, I saw that of course someone had leaked our arrival to the Paparazzi, and after seeing my face, I was in even less of a mood to face them. Luckily we had a private hangar that was shut off to the paparazzi, the limos had dark tinted windows. We thanked the pilot and immediately got into the limos just in case a sneaky photographer had gotten around security.

The limos took us directly to our house so that we could rest and clean up a bit before visiting with the estate attorney. As we entered the house we were greeted by all of the staff, condolences were shared, and praise was given. Ann was there, of course, she hugged me and whispered kind words to me. Even though I knew her job was no longer to be my Nanny, it still felt nice to be comforted by her, it reminded me a bit of when I was younger. I just rested my head on her shoulder for a moment, before letting go.

I introduced Yuki to everyone and took Yuki on a tour of the house. She was definitely in awe of the sheer size of our estate, with Tokyo being so crowded, she was a bit thrown off by how empty the area around our estate was and how quiet it was. After the tour was over, she insisted we take a nap, and wouldn't take no for an answer. To encourage me to nap, she decided to lay with me and cuddle me while I napped, and possibly fall asleep herself.

I grabbed a pair of cute pajamas from my suitcase and Yuki grabbed a black nightgown. I hadn't been home in a few years, and even when I had been home, it wasn't for long. This led to never getting around to buying new bedding, so my bedding was still that of a much younger girl, not an eighteen-year-old woman. I blushed a bit at my Queen-size bed featuring Tangled bedding with an image of Rapunzel. Yuki didn't say a word or react in any way, she was used to me dressing in the more childish cutesy manner of Kawaii Fashion anyway. The bedding was just par for the course in her eyes. We got under the covers and started to snuggle with each other, Yuki holding me as the little spoon and comforting me while encouraging me to sleep. I was so comfortable and warm being held like that by Yuki, it made me feel safe and loved. I very quickly drifted off to sleep.

In my dream I was standing on the red carpet with my Father and Mother, we were doing the standard walk, letting the photographers get their pictures, etc. As we approached the reporters for our red-carpet interview, I noticed that the reporter was no longer holding a microphone but a pistol. As we approached her, she aimed it and fired, striking my father in the chest. He immediately crumpled to the ground, bleeding out at my feet.

As I stood there in shock, the reporter pointed the gun at me. I was frozen, I couldn't move, I was too afraid. As I stood frozen to the spot with fear, I felt a warm sensation in my underwear. In my fear, I was wetting myself on the red carpet, with hundreds of photographers taking pictures of the scene. As my bladder finished emptying, the reporter pulled the trigger. Just before the bullet could strike me, I woke up with a start, drenched in a cold sweat.