Ameripangled

Kiku shrieked, running to hide behind her mannequin, frying pan still in hand. She'd heard the man grunting as he climbed up the side of the tower, so she had hid and hit him in the head with the nearest "weapon" she could find. In all her years no one besides Mother Kim had ever been in the tower, and now there was a man with a satchel on his shoulder and a knife on his belt. It was totally obvious he wanted to cut her hair and sell it. She was only using self-defense.

She approached the man cautiously, hidden behind the mannequin, Meimei following close behind. She knew what a man looked like, but had never seen one in the flesh before. Mother Kim said they had pointy teeth and were dangerous. What if this man was a ruffian or a thug? She tapped his head with the handle of the frying pan; he seemed to be knocked out.

Meimei growled, bearing teeth. Yes, perhaps he did have pointy teeth like Mother Kim said. Kiku put the frying pan's handle to the man's lips to gaze at his fangs.

Fangs that weren't there.

Huh? Kiku moved from behind the mannequin toward the man to get a closer look at him. No fangs? He didn't look too scary. She took the pan's handle to move a few stray strands of blonde hair from his face.

Well, he certainly wasn't bad looking. In fact… he was kind of… handsome. Or whatever it was called. Kiku turned her head trying to get a better angle at which to gaze at him. He didn't look harmful.

Suddenly, blue eyes shot open behind rectangular glasses. The man gasped, and Kiku's first instinct was to hit him with her frying pan, which inevitably happened due to her adrenaline rush from seeing someone new.

She had to hide this man. Mother Kim would be furious if anyone else knew the tower's location! But where? Underneath the rug was too obvious, as was in the chair. She supposed she could hide him in her room, but how would she get him up there?

Kiku scanned the room for a hiding space, but none seemed available…

The closet.

But how? Her hair had never lassoed around another person before. She just had to trust herself and believe she could do it. Kiku wrapped her hair around the man (who was really heavy!) and struggled to drag him to the closet. Now… how to get him in? She tried several attempts—swinging him into the closet while she was on a ledge, shoving him in with various household objects, just dragging him in—still, he always fell out and on top of her, and boy, he was not easy to move. Kiku eventually just used all of her might to just shove him in, and she was surprised that he not only stayed in place, but that he didn't wake up during this whole ordeal.

Kiku shoved a chair against the door and picked up her frying pan and pointed it toward the closet, ready for the man to emerge at any second. "Okay, okay, I have a person in my closet," she mumbled to herself. "I have a person in my closet."

Wait a second… Kiku smiled into the mirror next to the closet, seeing a strong, confident, beautiful young lady there, with the spirit of a fighter. "I have a person in my closet!" she exclaimed happily. Now Mother Kim would have to let her see the floating lights! Especially now that she had the strength to be outside. "Not strong enough to handle myself out there, Mother?" she told her reflection, twirling her pan around in her hand. "Well, tell that to my frying pan." However, the frying pan slipped and bumped her head against it. Those things were lethal.

Then, something caught Kiku's eye. Something sparkly. She picked up the man's satchel and took out the sparkly thing. Just what was it? A bracelet? Kiku held her hand up, and the spakly thing rested on her wrist… but it was too wide. Meimei scrunched up, telling Kiku it obviously wasn't a bracelet.

Okay then. Kiku held up the sparkly thing to her eyes. Perhaps it was a looking glass?

Again, Meimei disapproved.

Sighing, Kiku shrugged. If it wasn't a bracelet or a looking glass, it was still something important. Along with the sparkly thing was a Wanted poster of the man, although the artist drew his curl wrong.

Hm, how was this sparkly thing valuable? A necklace, perhaps? But there were no fastenings. Maybe it would just slip over her head?

Oh wait, it was a hat. If it fit so perfectly on her head, then that's what it must be. Kiku examined herself in the mirror. The hat… it made her look… regal. More sophisticated, like how Mother Kim always looked. She didn't look like the same person. Odd.

Still Meimei, who knew everything about the outside world, disapproved. Which meant it wasn't meant for Kiku. Still, it was a pretty hat.

"Kiku! Let down your hair!"

Oh! Mother Kim was back! When Kiku showed her mother she had caught the mn, surely she would get to see the floating lights. But she couldn't just spring this news on Mother Kim. This time, she had to ease into it. She stuffed the satchel, poster, and hat into a nearby pot and quickly let her hair down to retrieve Mother Kim. "One moment, Ohmohni!"

"Kiku! I have a little surprise for you!" Mother Kim called up cheerfully.

"I do, too!" Kiku countered, excited.

"Oh, I bet my surprise is bigger!" her mother sang.

"I seriously doubt it," Kiku mumbled to herself as Mother Kim was pulled up to the window's ledge.

"I brought back Eastern soybean curd!" Mother Kim explained cheerily. "I'm going to make kimchi soup for dinner—your favorite! Surprise!"

But kimchi soup was not Kiku's favorite dinner dish—it was Morher Kim's. It was time to put her new plan into action.

"Well, Ohmohni, there's something I wanted to tell you," said Kiku, knowing she was on eggshells with her uneasy mother.

Mother Kim walked to the kitchen counter to begin dinner. She still wouldn't listen! Why did it seem like her mother was always so narcissistic? "Why Kiku, you know how I hate leaving you alone after a fight—especially when I've done absolutely nothing wrong," she said gently.

"Ye, Ohmohni," Kiku pressed on, "I was thinking about what you said earlier, and—"

"I hope you're not still talking about the stars," Mother Kim interrupted, her happy mood disrupted.

"Floating lights," Kiku corrected. "And I was just getting to that…"

"Because I really thought we'd dropped the issue, sweetheart," Mother Kim said sweetly, trying to stay cool.

How could Kiku get this news out? She tried again. "No, Ohmohni. It's just that you think I'm not strong enough to handle myself out there."

Mother Kim snickered. "Darling, I know you're not strong enough to handle yourself out there," she said matter-of-factly.

"But if you'd just—"

"Kiku, we're done talking about this." All sweetness was gone in Mother Kim's voice.

"Listen—" The last thing Kiku wanted to do was start an argument with her mother, but this wouldn't happen if Mother Kim would just lend an ear.

"Kiku."

"Trust me."

"Kiku!"

Kiu's hand was just about to reveal what lay behind the closet doors. "I know what I'm—"

"ENOUGH WITH THE LIGHTS, KIKU! YOU ARE NOT LEAVING THIS TOWER! EVER!" Mother Kim turned and bellowed, making Kiku jump, her hand falling back to her side. She was crestfallen. Did Mother Kim truly mean it? Would she never leave the tower? Not tomorrow, not next year, not ever?

By the way Mother Kim's brows creased in pure furiousness, that had to be true. But she couldn't leave because Mother Kim was in close vicinity. Kiku had something against the man in the closet. A man who probably knew the world better than Meimei. And it was than and there, in that disturbing silence, that Kiku devised a plan to see the floating lights as soon as she could.

"Oh great. Now I'm the bad guy," Mother Kim sighed, falling back in her chair, rubbing her temples like an old woman.

Kiku inched closer to Mother Kim, her new plan coming into place. "All I was going to say is, I know what I want for my birthday now," she said very gently.

"And what is that?" Mother Kim moaned , her tone clearly annoyed.

"New paint?" Kiku guessed uncertainly, saying the first thing that came to mind. New paint would take at least a day to retrieve, since it was not as common as food and lasted longer. But, to press her luck, since she was turning eighteen… "The… paint from the white shells you once brought me?" That was expensive, almost unattainable paint. But when Kiku first dipped her brush in the paints, it was heavenly. She now knew why it was so expensive.

Mother Kim sighed. "Now that is a very long trip, Kiku," she lamented, though Kiku could see she was starting to become convinced. "Almost three days' time."

Three days was more than enough time. Now it was time for Kiku's least favorite part but certainly the most effective—buttering up. "I just thought it was a better idea than the… stars," she said softly.

Luckily, the idea appealed to Mother Kim, who approached Kiku and sighed again. "Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?" she asked, still hesitant, brushing Kiku's bangs out of her face.

Kiku hugged her mother. "I know I'm safe as long as I'm here," she answered immediately.

~~~~~

After packing Mother Kim's needs for the next few days, it was time for her parting. Kiku had been on her own in the tower for as long as a week at a time—so certainly Mother Kim trusted her.

Kiku and her mother exchanged goodbye kisses and hugs. Kiku still felt a little guilty for what she was about to do, but she needed to see those lights. It was crucial.

"I'll be back in three days' time," said Mother Kim, giving Kiku a final kiss on the top of her head. "I love you very much."

Kiku hooked her hair over the ledge of the window and smiled. "I love you more."

"I love you most," Mother Kim reassured, sliding down Kiku's midnight blue hair smoothly. Kiku waved until Mother Kim finally disappeared into the outdoor world, not due back for quite a while.

Immediately Kiku rushed to her closet, using the chair that kept the door closed as a shield, along with her trusted frying pan. She had the man's sparkly hat, along with the Wanted poster and the satchel, tucked away in the pot. She knew the western language. She had the upper hand.

She had nothing to lose.

Taking a deep breath, Kiku lassoed her hair around the handle of the closet and opened it. Luckily, the man was still knocked out cold as he fell forward and hit the floor with a strange sounding "Smack!"

Next came the hard part. She arranged the heavy man onto the chair and used her hair to tie him up, since there was no available rope. This would be the closest the man would get to her hair, she vowed. No way would he cut it.

Hiding herself in the shadows with her trusted frying pan, she dragged the man and the chair to the center of the room, where the light was brightest.

Meimei, who was still quite frightened of the man, hopped into the light. She wasn't as scared now that he was tied up.

"Wake him up, Meimei," kiku ordered, gulping. "I promise, he won't hurt you."

Kiku then mustered up all her courage, preparing herself to face this man. He'd drive a hard fight, she knew, so she needed speak in into the recesses of her memory and speak in the smartest terms possible. This man needed to take her to see the floating lights. This was Kiku's only opportunity to finally venture out into the world. It was her only chance.

The rest of her life depended on the next few minutes, she knew. There was no going back now.