hakuouki fanfiction

Chapter 5. Home

Melissa sat down for tea with Saito as they had become accustomed to do on their free time. Melissa enjoyed her time with Saito. She liked how calm he was and felt relaxed in his presence. Hijikata was walking past them when he remembered the letter. "Hey Melissa when you have time could you come and take a look at the letter. I'm sure you've already heard about it from Heisuke or Harada. I'll be in my room when you are ready." Melissa glanced at Hijikata's retrieving figure with some worry. 

"It might be for you." 

"Yeah might be, but I don't want to get my hopes up." Saito gave her a worried side glance. She seemed vulnerable when talking about her family and she hadn't told them much. Melissa got up and made her way to Hijikata's room after silently finishing her tea. 

Her mind traveled to the past. 

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.

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"No daughter of mine will become an old spinster. You WILL marry my associates son and unite our company with him, unless you have any other means to support yourself, because I sure as hell won't do it anymore."

"I WILL NOT! I might have been born and raised to keep your company standing, but that's not the life I choose to follow!" Melissa slammed her bedroom door and sat down in front of her mirror. She examined herself. The blue eyes were tired from anger and her lips were a bit chapped from yelling. She hadn't comped her hair, but the dark waves looked tidy as usual. Her nose was slightly runny like it always was, when she felt like crying.

They had been arguing and screaming at each other for hours now. Melissa's older brother was travelling for business and couldn't help her at all. Her parent's sure chose the perfect time to announce their future plans for her. They knew she would decline, but with no support she wouldn't have many choices. 

She could run away, but that was not how she wanted to handle things, she could simply decline or make sure her future husband would and live with her family under constant  ridicule from her parents. Her older brother would inherit the household eventually and make things easier for her, but that wasn't how she wanted to live.

She could come up with some lie about her husband to be so that her parents wouldn't want to marry her off, but she would be wed to someone else despite of that. Did she really have no other choice. Truth be told she was tempted by the idea. Working, living with no shackles and maybe marrying for love someday. 

She would have to leave her family though.

The thought brought tears in her eyes. She couldn't imagine a life without her younger brothers running around begging her to play with them or hide them after they made their parents angry and she felt frightened knowing that her older brother wouldn't be there to help her when she needed him the most. Her parent's had five children and as the only girl she was the only one who had to deal with this. It wasn't uncommon for men to marry women they didn't want even though it was more common for women, but Melissa didn't have to worry about her brother's all of them would have place in her fathers company. 

In a way so would she if she would agree to marry a stranger. Melissa had met her father's associate a few times and he seemed like the kind of man that doesn't take no for an answer, but she couldn't care less about what that man or his son would think about her. She had made her mind. There was no chance she would marry the guy, but what would she do, could she really leave her family and start working.

Melissa was good with her hands and she loved all the import her father brought from overseas and she was well educated. Melissa had a keen interest for the orient and she had even learned Japanese from a tutor her father had arranged for her when she had begged relentlessly about it. 

Melissa was never the kind of girl that played silently with dolls although sometimes she wished for it. Having only brothers she played only with them. Her father used to encourage her to be as tomboyish as she wanted, but when she grew older things chanced. She used to wear pants whenever she had the chance, but now she was forced to wear stifling and beautiful dresses. Melissa didn't mind the way her clothes looked, in fact she couldn't care less, but it  made moving difficult. And after her debutante ball she was gaining some male attention, but soon her people noticed that she wasn't interested in marrying the men she met. She did like some of them, but purely as friends and soon her parents began to press her to find someone, but all she wanted to do was draw, paint and get involved with her fathers business. He often asked about her opinions about important products because she had a keen eye about what people liked. Melissa had began to think she might get to work at her fathers company, but years later her reality checked in. And now she was leaving

She could go to Japan, England or France maybe even America, She would need to be good at what she did, otherwise nobody would respect her. As a woman she would need to be extraordinary and that she would certainly be. Melissa was still unsure about her decision and she would need some time to get things done. Time that she didn't have.

She wrote a letter to her brother

Dear brother I have some news. You might already know about some of it, but I need your help with something and for that you need to know everything.

As you have guessed I am to be wed without my consent and of course that option is off the table. I need to make something out of myself. Something that I wan't and I've decided to become a working woman and please don't laugh I am extremely serious.

 I wan't to go to Japan to hone my skills regarding painting and such and that's where I need your help. No ship will sail with me unless they know I have my fathers consent and in Japan I would need to find lodging. I know you have visited there once on a business trip and thought that you could use some of your influence to help with father and housing. 

I do wish to see you before I depart. And I will depart even if you won't help. I haven't discussed with mother or father about this because I know they will do their best to stop me. 

I hope you've had a pleasant journey so far. Please be careful.

Sincerely your sister Melissa

It took a while for his answer to come, but it was a good one. Her brother had arranged everything he gave her instructions and told her that a man named Joel would be waiting for her at the docks. He was supposed to pretend to be her husband so she could sail away without her fathers consent and he even managed to get Melissa a place at mister Riker's residence. Her brother wished her all the luck in the world. Sadly she didn't have the chance to see him, but she didn't have time to wait.

Melissa gave her goodbyes to her younger brothers in secret and left a letter for her parents. She made sure not to enclose too much so that they wouldn't come after her, but she put all her love in to the words she wrote. And she left at dawn.