Coming of Age

As the pair walked up to the front door of the bar, Izumi checked her watch. It read 6:45PM. Perfect. Ranko paused as she reached for the door. "Wait, hold up. They're hosting that private party tonight; shouldn't we go through the back door?"Izumi shook her head with a smile. "I think it'll be okay." Ranko shrugged, taking the brass pipe handle of the door, careful of her nails. It creaked open a bit into the mostly-empty bar room. The music wasn't playing, though. She wondered why."SURPRISE!"Her eyes snapped up and scanned the room. There were only a handful of people present, but she recognized most of them - at least, all the women. There were two men and a little boy she didn't know, presumably Ayako's husband and Izumi's boyfriend and son. A banner hung across the back wall, blaring out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" in bright red lettering. Ranko turned to Izumi. "But you said…"Izumi giggled. "I said the bar was reserved for a private party for an important brat. I stand by my statement."Rolling her eyes with a laugh, Ranko stepped deeper into the room. Izumi surreptitiously took Ranko's shopping bags from her hand, freeing her arms to accept the incoming hugs from Hana, and then Yui, and finally Mei. Izumi disappeared upstairs for a minute, dropping her bags on the bed to get them out of the way.Ranko's face was aflame as she looked around the room in shock. "You guys, you didn't have to do this for me."Hana smiled. "Nonsense. Every girl deserves a party on her eighteenth birthday. I think it's the law or something."Yui handed Ranko a soda, smiling knowingly at her. The look on Ranko's face today, compared to the other night when they'd had the bar to themselves, was night and day, and Yui was glad to see it. As she looked Ranko over, Yui gasped a little bit. "Did you get your ears pierced?" She brushed Ranko's hair to the side, examining her.Ranko smiled sheepishly, her cheeks turning the same color her punctured ears still were. "It was Izumi's idea. Do you like?"Yui nodded, an almost wolfish grin creeping across her face. "Hell yeah I do!"Mei gave Ranko a warm smile. "Omigosh, your nails are so cute! I love that color!" Ranko could do nothing but smile as the compliments rained down on her. Man, Izumi must really know what she's doing. Watching her older girls fawn over her youngest, Hana smiled with immense pride. She knew Ranko hadn't really been in a position to take care of herself for a while, and she could only imagine how wonderful it must feel for her to have had an opportunity to pamper herself a little bit after months of having it rough.Ayako waved as her younger sisters finally gave Ranko some room to breathe. "Hey! Happy birthday! C'mere a minute." Ranko approached and Ayako gestured to the tallish man to her left, wearing an electric blue polo shirt and slacks. "Ranko, this is my husband, Kage."Ranko bowed respectfully. "My pleasure, Mr. Jirito." Kage returned the bow, but waved off her formality. "Kage is just fine. Good to meet you! Did you have a good time today?" Ranko blushed but answered with a smile and a nod.Izumi, returning from depositing Ranko's purchases in her room, approached, holding her son on her hip. "Hoshi, baby, this is Ranko." She smiled brightly. "She's mama's new little sister."Hoshi waved to her. "Hi, Auntie Ranko!"The birthday girl's face caught fire again. She was somebody's aunt? When the hell did this happen? She recovered enough to respond. "Well, hello, Hoshi. Your mama's told me so much about you. Thank you for being here tonight!"A shorter man in a black T-shirt, jeans and a cap with the logo of a baseball team walked up behind Izumi, wrapping his arms around her and Hoshi. "There's my secret agent. It seems your diversion was successful."Izumi giggled. "Yeah. She had no idea. Ranko, my boyfriend, Kaito."Ranko started to bow, but thought better of it after Kage's reaction. "Hi! It's a pleasure. Izumi can't stop talking about you."He laughed. "Oh boy, I must be in trouble, then." As he spoke, the sound system roared to life, beginning a playlist of contemporary pop and rock music.Izumi bounced Hoshi on her hip. "Have you eaten yet?"The little boy shook his head. "Gramma said we had to wait until you got here."His mother nodded. "Well, we're here now, so let's go find us a cookie or something." She put him on his feet and took his hand, and they walked toward the bar.Hoshi smiled up at his mother. "Mama, Auntie Ranko is really pretty." His mother grinned back at Ranko, who couldn't decide whether she was humiliated or elated.After a few more minutes of pleasantries, Ranko joined Izumi at the bar. The countertop was lined with a variety of foodstuffs - far more than they needed for the number of people present. She smiled down at Izumi's son. "How are the cookies?"He looked up at her with a smile, a bit of chocolate smeared across his face. His mouth still full, he nodded his endorsement emphatically. "Seems like a pretty good endorsement to me." She giggled, reaching across Izumi's body to take two and place them on a small paper plate in front of her. She bit into one, giving an exaggerated expression of surprise to the child. "My goodness, you're right! That's got to the best cookie ever!"Izumi smiled. "You're so good with kids." Yui shook her head at Izumi with wide eyes of warning, encouraging her to back off that subject.Izumi turned to her boyfriend, relating the events of the day to him. As Ranko stuffed half a cookie in her mouth, Hana walked up behind, taking the stool next to her. "Hey, sweetheart." Ranko smiled, giving her a "one minute" gesture with her hand as she finished chewing."Hey, Hana. Thank you so much for today, and for putting this together. You really didn't have to, but it means a lot. I've never actually had a birthday party before."The matriarch frowned; nobody should grow up like that, in her opinion. "Well, you have now."Ranko smiled gratefully. "You all have made me feel so special since I've been here. I thought I was signing up for a waitressing job, and instead I've found… all of this. I can't believe how lucky I am to have met you all."Hana beamed brightly. "You are special, Ranko. I'm sorry it's taken you so long to learn that about yourself. You deserve a life and a family, and support and love."Ranma blushed. "Thank you… mama Hana." The word felt strange coming out of her mouth, but she felt that Hana had earned it, not just for the way she had treated Ranko herself, but for the way the other girls had. She knew that none of them could have been so positive with her if Hana hadn't first taught them to be positive about themselves – as she was now doing for Ranko.The barkeep smiled widely, patting Ranko's hand. "You are most welcome, honey."The music faded and there was a thumping over the speakers as Mei tapped the top of the karaoke microphone. "What do you think, everybody? Should we make the birthday girl sing for us?"A chorus of cheers rose from the collected gathering, and Ranko flushed brightly. "Really, Mei?"The blue-haired girl nodded. "It's your birthday. If we can't applaud you today, when can we? Get your butt up here, girl."Ranko shook her head as she dismounted her stool and walked to the stage. She took the microphone from Mei, giving her a playful bonk on the head with it that reverberated through the speakers. Izumi slid behind the bar, scrolling through the available songs on the karaoke machine. She smirked devilishly, selecting a fairly upbeat love song. She'd not heard Ranko sing, though she'd heard amazing things, and she wanted to challenge her a little.Ranko snickered a bit when the track began to play, but when the lyrics began to light up on the monitor, she laid into the song without hesitation. Unlike her previous "concert", there was no trepidation on her part – little by little, she was finding her confidence. And besides, everyone here was family.Ayako clapped over her head in time with the music, and Kage leaned into her ear, not taking his eyes off the stage. "Holy shit, she's good."The chorus swelled, and as Ranko began to sing it, a second voice came from the speakers. Mei, holding another dynamic microphone, was singing backup for her, following the lyrics lighting up in a different color at the bottom of the monitor. Izumi whooped loudly, and Kaito held Hoshi on his lap, holding his wrists and directing him to clap along with the music. Yui flipped a switch under the bar, and the lights over the stage changed from white to a deep pink. Ranko didn't know they could do that – no performance on that stage thus far had warranted it. By the time the third chorus hit, Ranko actually found herself swaying her hips with the music as she sang. It wasn't quite a dance, but it felt like one to her. She ended the song with Mei singing as well, face to face with her, with only their microphones' lengths separating them. When the song ended, the few people in the room cheered as if there were dozens. Ranko blushed and bowed. "Thank you, everybody!"Izumi looked at Mei with a stunned expression and an excited hand gesture. "I told you," the younger girl exclaimed.Izumi put an arm around Ranko's shoulder when she descended from the stage. "They told me you were good, but…" She held her hands to the side of her head, her fingers pursed together and then expanding, in the "my mind is blown" gesture.Ranko flushed a bit. "You guys talk about me like I'm some pop idol or something. I'm just a waitress."Izumi smirked. "Girl, you keep that up, we'll be shopping for some idol costumes for you sooner than you think."Ranko blushed deeply, imagining the popular girl groups that all wore maid outfits and mock school uniforms. She didn't think that would ever be her style. Then again, yesterday she'd have called anyone crazy who suggested she'd get her nails done and her ears pierced, and here she was. "Do you honestly think I'm that good, or are you just trying to make me feel good?"Yui walked up, taking a sip of her beer. "You're not as good as we thought. You're even better than that." Ranko smiled to herself. Maybe - just maybe - there was something other than martial arts that she could consider herself talented at.There came another attention-seeking thump on the microphone, and everyone looked up as Hana entered the room from the back, carrying a white-frosted cake with eighteen lit candles. She started singing Happy Birthday, and the rest of the family joined in. As the song reached its conclusion, she set the cake in front of Ranko's spot at the bar. Its border was lined in pink flowers made of frosting, and in the middle, "Happy birthday Ranko" was written with icing in a practiced hand."Make a wish," Yui called out.Ranko blushed. "Honestly, what more could I wish for? Thank you all." She closed her eyes, leaning down and blowing out the candles to the applause of the rest of the partygoers. She was glad to be rid of the fire in her proximity.~~~After several hours of revelry, food, and even another musical performance from the guest of honor, Ayako and Kage left for home. The rest of the group began cleaning up the bar. Hana insisted that Ranko didn't need to help, but she wanted to. It was the least she could do to show her gratitude. She picked up a container of leftover potstickers, carrying it through the saloon doors to put it in the walk-in cooler.When she exited into the main kitchen, Yui was there waiting for her. "Hey. I didn't want to do this in front of everybody, but I got you something." She handed Ranko a small green bag with a bow on the front and some white tissue paper poking out of the top."Aw, Yui, you didn't have to do that. You've all done so much already!" Still, she took the bag from Yui's hand, pulling out a flat, white, square hinged box about 10 centimeters across. "What's this?"She gripped the sides of the box, opening it at the hinges in the back. Inside was a piece of black velvet covering a round peg in the middle of the box. Around the peg sat a silver ring, maybe nine centimeters in diameter and six centimeters wide. The exterior was etched with an intricately-carved dragon, with a small blue stone set as its eye. It had a small hinge on one side, and a clasp opposite it. Ranko looked at it curiously, and Yui stepped closer. The elder girl took the ring out of the box, popping open the clasp. Gently, she took Ranko's left hand, placing the opened ring around her wrist and pressing it shut with a click. The bracelet was a perfect fit around her arm, such that it would not slide up and down on her wrist. Yui turned Ranko's arm over in her hand, and Ranko immediately understood the meaning of the gift - her scar from the encounter with Mousse was now completely hidden, much as Yui's ever-present sleeves did for hers.Ranko's eyes widened, and so did her smile. "Yui, it's…""Remember what I told you," Yui interrupted. "Our pasts will never go away, but we can choose not to let them mess with the present."Ranko stepped forward, reaching up and giving Yui a tight hug around her neck. "It's beautiful, Yui. Thank you."Yui squeezed back, sighing happily. "You're welcome, Ran-chan. Happy birthday, kiddo."