Are We Alive?

Three: Mixed Zinnia

Mixed Zinnia–Thinking(or in memory) of an absent friend.

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Sachi liked the girls' dolls. There was a dollhouse almost the same shade of pink as the walls of the room. There was one bed, queen sized, in a corner of the room and the walls were painted a light pink with white butterflies painted on them in a few places. Old band posters hung on the walls. A white wooden dresser with a TV above it,along with a game system. A large toy box took up another corner of the room. There was a doll house with plenty of dolls for Sachi and Tsukumo to play with. There was even a short tower of drawers next to the dollhouse for the doll clothes and accessories. A teal boom box sat on top of the tower. The last piece of furniture in the room was a black wood desk with makeup pallets and utensils scattered over the surface, earrings, in the drawers of a clearly very-well used jewelry box that was filled with bracelets, rings, necklaces.

At some point, Tsukumo had found safety scissors and chopped off one doll's hair. The doll had purple hair, for whatever reason and the hair was now decently cut like Izumo's, if a little choppy. Sachi had found markers and colored the doll's blue eyes red.

It took Rin until they made Ryuji out of a male doll to realize that they were making their group out of the dolls. Rin's heart ached. The dolls actually looked like their people. The hair cuts were a bit choppy, but mostly accurate and the eyes were colored the right colors. The clothes were all cut up too. These kids were fashion experts, Jesus!

"Ugh!" Sachi threw her hands in the air, a habit she'd gotten from Rin when he was frustrated and done with whatever was irritating him. He laughed quietly. "What's wrong, sweetie?" He asked. "Non o them hav white hair, Daddy!" She complained. Rin's heart may have exploded.

"Oh God, what did I do to deserve you?" He gasped. "We can bleach it. That's the closest we'll get. We'll do it tomorrow. For now, why don't you just cut the hair and do the eyes, hmm?" He suggested. She nodded, still annoyed, and carried on.

"Are those....is that....are they making us?" Izumo blanched. "Yeah. Yeah they are." Rin answered with a smile. The two stood there, feeling like proud parents while the kids displayed their artistic talents.

A bit later, after the girls took a break for lunch and played outside a bit, they came back to the dolls.

Rin didn't pay much attention until he once again noticed something strange. "Who're you making now?" He wondered. "The girls in the picture." Tsukumo said. "Oh." Rin watched quietly. Was this an unhealthy attachment or just interest in the life of a family they'd never known?

"No, tha one hav darker eyes." Sachi told Tsukumo. The girl colored a slightly darker blue onto the doll she was working on. "Dot ar hard to make!" Sachi huffed, crossing her chubby baby arms. Rin stifled a laugh.

Rin went over and helped her with making tiny brown dots on the doll's body. "She got mark righ dere." Sachi pointed to the arm. Rin looked at the photo for reference and sure enough, she did.

"Why are there no glasses?" Tsukumo groaned. Rin snickered. "Ryuji, come make the kids some glasses for their dolls!" He called. He handed the teen some paperclips and the boy sighed. They found pliers and bent the wires into doll-sized glasses. One pair was colored black and one silver.

"Dere! Now what deir names?" Sachi wondered, tilting her head in question. "I don't know, honey. You wanna make some up?" Ryuji crouched next to the girls on the floor. Sachi thought before shaking her head. "No. I like dem as jus 'Girls.'" She decided.

"Me too." Tsukumo agreed. Rin, Ryuji, and Izumo all watched them, smiling. Kids were a blessing.

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