No Perfect Father

Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort

Characters: Yamada Ryosuke, Yamada Sakura (OC) 

Summary: Ryosuke may not be a perfect dad, but his love is perfect.

     A little girl, no older than six, scrutinized the room in search for the person she wanted to see, but with no luck. The seat assigned personally for that special person was empty. He lied. This didn’t surprise nor discouraged her. She grown use to his absence. She had to. It wasn’t his fault, but she couldn’t help but blame him, and mostly herself, even when it was wrong to think that.

She clenched her fist, nearly balling up the paper in her hand, and gave a long breath.

She was next.

“Sakura Yamada,” Sensei said softly into the microphone.

She got up from her seat and proceeded to walk up to the stage. There were mean whispers and soft laughter along the way, but she ignored it. The false rumors her teachers and classmates like to spread about her father didn’t bother Sakura anymore. Today the rumors will come to an end. From the paper in her hand, she was going to tell them the truth, not like it mattered or that it was any of their business, but it was her way of accepting the truth that he father have longed to kept secret.

She faced the front with her head held high. All eyes were on her. She took a deep breath before reading what was on her paper.

--- --- ---

“I’m sorry Sakura,” Ryosuke whispered to himself as he checked his watch. He couldn’t possibly make it on time. School was about to be over and he just got on the train. He let her down again, all because of a stupid job interview that he may not even get. It was all a waste of time. The two hour long train ride, missing his daughter’s speech, and for what? To be mocked?

Slowly his fingers curled into a fist as he felt a burning sensation run through his body. He was angry; no, livid. At the interview, the way they pitied him; the way they looked down on him; the way they saw him like he was…worthless. It was the same look his daughter’s teachers would give him. He hated it, but what could he do about it? He loathe to admit it, but a part of him felt like what they were saying were true. Maybe he wasn’t cut out for doing this. He was young, practically a kid himself. How could he possibly raise a child alone? He could barely keep a job. It was too much for him. Maybe he should just give up on being a parent. He’s not fit to be one. Sakura deserved better.

Ryosuke felt a sudden warmth on his cheeks. He touched his face lightly. Has he been crying this whole time?

He wiped away his tears and kicked himself mentally for pitying himself. How could he possibly think that? He’s been doing this on his own for six years now and he dealt with worse trials and tribulations than this. Ryosuke may not be a perfect dad, but he makes sure Sakura has everything she needs and Sakura turned out to be a fine kid because of that.

I’m a good father. Ryosuke thought. Right?

He sighed.

Forgive me for not being their Sakura, I’ll make it up to you. Ryosuke said to himself.

--- --- ---

Sakura quietly sat on the school’s staircase and waited for her father to come. Suddenly she heard a door creak and footsteps coming her way. Her eyes beamed brightly and her lips curled into a wide smile when she saw who it was.

“Papa!” she shouted as she ran up to Ryosuke to give him a hug. He patted her head gently and smiled softly when she looked up at him. “I missed you.” she said with a hint of sadness.

“Yeah, me too.” He said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here—“

“I don’t care about that. You’re here now.” She grabbed his hand. “Can we walk to the park first before we go home?”

Ryosuke, surprised at her response, nodded. “Sure.” She smiled and tugged him outside.

“So, how was school?’ he asked as they walked.

“It was great! Ms. Saito wasn’t here today so we had a sub. He let us watch My Neighbor Totoro.” Sakura began to skip as she hummed the theme. “My neighbor to to ro totoro, to to ro totoro—oh! And in science we’re learning about space and planets! Did you know that space goes on forever?”

“Yup.”

“Did you know that the sun is actually a humongous star?”

“Yup.”

“We’ll did you know the sun is going to burn out in like six billion years?!”

“Yup.”

“Wow. You knew all those things?” she looked amazed. He couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I told you I know everything, remember?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot…”

“So how was your speech? Were you nervous? What did you write about?’

Sakura suddenly stopped walking and looked down.

Ryosuke gave a worried look. “Sakura?”

Sakura reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece a paper and unfolded it.

“We had to write an essay about someone who we saw as a hero.” She looked up at him and handed him the paper.

Ryosuke took it and smiled as he read it, but soon his lips turned downward.

I have the greatest Papa in the world. He’s the smartest. The strongest. The bravest. The most handsome. He is my superman. My Papa is amazing but…he is not a perfect papa. He lies a lot. He lies about coming to my recitals and coming to my school trips. It made me angry and sad when he doesn’t show up but I know he doesn’t mean to. He lies about having a job. He lies about having money. He lies that we have everything. Sometimes I worry that we won’t have anywhere to sleep tonight. He lies that he’s not tired or hungry. He struggles to stay awake after a long day’s work to care for me. He lies that he is not sad. I see him cry in his sleep plenty of times and it hurts. What really hurts is that he lies because of me.

My name is Sakura Yamada and I was abandoned at a park when I was just a baby. My Papa found me there all alone when he was still in school himself. He made it his duty to care for me. He even went so far to give up his dreams and drop out of school to care for me. I’m very thankful to have a Papa like him. That’s why he’s my hero.

Ryosuke tightened his grip on the paper as he reread. His body trembled furiously and a large lump was beginning to form in his throat. Finally he had the courage to look up at his daughter who had his back turned to him. She slowly lifted her arm and pointed to the tallest cherry blossom tree in the park.

“This is the park were they left me. You found me by that tree inside a bag, that’s why you named me Sakura. Right Papa?”

“H-How did you…?” he choked on his own words as Sakura turned around to face him. She was crying.

“I’ve known for a while now. You were talking to Yuto-san about it. He asked why you didn’t tell people the truth about me and you said it was because you rather for people talk badly about you than for people to talk badly about me.” She tried to control her tears but her emotions got the best of her; a pool of tears trailed down her face. “Papa, I’m sorry. You sacrifice your happiness cause of me and I’m sorry. I’m sor—“

Ryosuke wrapped his arms around Sakura and hugged her tightly. “You’re the best daughter a father could ask for, Sakura. You’re my happiness and I love you.”

Sakura wrapped her small little arms around his neck and cried under his shoulder.

“I love you too, Papa.”

Word Count: 1335

A/N: My very first drabble/short story. I don’t know which one it is, probably a short story since it's to long for a drabble.