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“Cassandra!” Mother said in a tone that told Casey that she was angry, but Casey didn’t care.
“I want to leave!” She yelled. “You never let me go with you! It’s like you're scared!”
“Casey.” Mother said. “While I am sorry I do not spend as much time here, it is for your protection.” Getting an apology was rare, but Casey didn’t care.
“DO YOU NOT WANT THEM TO SEE ME??” Casey screamed. “ARE YOU EMBARRASSED??"
“Casey! Enough!”
“IF YOU DON’T WANT ME THEN LEAVE MY ROOM!”
“I’ll LEAVE WHEN YOU APOLOGIZE!” Her mom was yelling now, too. “YOU ARE—” She sighed, trying to collect herself. “You are built for greatness, Cassandra. If you defy your superiors, things won’t go well for you.”
Casey was shaking now, finding it hard to breath through sobs. “NO YOU SAY SORRY!!” This was stupid, her mother would spank her for sure. “YOU.” An intake of breath that sounded painful. “ARE A HORRIBLE MOTHER!!!” Her mother looked taken aback.
“You are six years old, I expected better than this.”
“YOU SHOULDN’T!”
“I see that now.” She said calmly. Icy. “You are unaware of your position, it seems. You are not just a child, you are the child. If you act like this in the future there will be severe consequences, and if you don’t shut your mouth, I will enact my version of them.”
“LEAVE ME ALONE YOU STUPID JERK!!!” Casey choked out a scream. She didn’t say “jerk” though, instead a much worse word.
“CASSANDRA MYEONG-SON JONES!” And Casey was in deep crap now. “IF YOU DON’T SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND APOLOGIZE ON YOUR KNEES I WON’T LEAVE, AND I WILL NEVER GO OUT WITH YOU.” And her demeanor shifted back to ice again. “This is for your own good, Casey, you need to respect and succeed more than anything else, or else you will get into trouble.”
Casey did so, afraid of her mother’s wrath now that she had started yelling just as loud. Her mother pulled out a spoon and rapped her on the back with it a few times. Hard. Casey struggled to breath through her tears. “People will only take you if you don’t talk back. So shut your mouth.”
She left after she had apparently hurt Casey enough, and Casey promised to herself that this wouldn’t phase her.
It did.
Years later, Casey was just as spunky as ever, trusting Master Mikimasa and Master Tsuyoshi, called Lieutenant and Brute by their enemies, to never beat her. They loved her, but at the same time didn’t treat her right. She wished they had, but at least now she had the Hamato clan. Didn’t stop her from missing them. She wouldn’t stop if they ended the world.
Remembering this, though…
It made her wonder how far ahead her mother knew she would put her with the Foot. The Foot may have not treated her right, but they treated her better than her mother. The question was whether or not she knew they would.
Casey couldn't figure out whether or not her mother’s actions were truly love or not. She just knew that her mother must have been embarrassed to have her, and thus Casey not knowing her name and not letting her out unless it was her aunt not mother, and that was rare.
She really, really wanted her mother to love her, so she told herself that she did.
She was never that good at lying.