Pluto
Sometimes the maids make fun of Mr. James the butler because of his name. “Home, James!” they giggle, if he goes anywhere near the car, “And don’t spare the horses!”
This is clearly stupid for so many reasons, but Akihiko stays quiet. He doesn’t bother to pretend to understand either. He chalks it up to the adults being strange. They’re always strange around him.
They also all think he’s an idiot, apparently. He spotted the doctor’s car outside the front door while he was out exploring the garden, and had scurried back to the house to see what was going on. Mr. James had grabbed him and led him to the lounge without a word, ruffling his hair and telling him to stay put for a while.
Now everyone’s filing in and out of the room, coming up to him and telling him that he’s such a good boy, so calm and well behaved. And that means Mama’s swallowed another bottle of pills. All of the maids keep trying to hug him and comfort him, and he’s five for crying out loud, not two. And anyway, Mama does this so often, he’s not bothered anymore. She’ll go to the hospital, Mr. James will take Akihiko to live in his little house for a while and then Mama will come home and open a new bottle of vodka.
Akihiko sneaks away from the noise as an ambulance slides to a halt on the driveway. No one will miss him, he’s sure. They never do.
He’s asleep in the library when Mr. James finds him. He lets the butler scoop him up without complaint, but whines in irritation when Mr. James sits down on one of the sofas instead of taking him back to his bed.
“Your father is going to come and visit your mother,” says the butler after a pause. His face is set in a perfectly blank expression. Akihiko resolves to learn how to do that, before he realises what has just been said.
His father is not a man he knows well. He’s a business man in Japan, and that’s on the other side of the world, so Akihiko never sees him. He can remember a deep voice, an expensive suit and a heavy hand patting him on the head, but that’s it.
Mr. James continues, “He’s very worried. Can you remember all the other times this happened?”
“Yes,” says Akihiko, completely lost as to where this is going. .
“Well...” Mr. James pauses awkwardly. He pats the boy’s head absently and then continues. “He thinks that it’s time to consider taking you and Mistress Akina back to Japan. So he can keep an eye on you.” There’s a touch of bitterness in his voice, but Akihiko’s used to his mother’s sarcasm laden tones so he ignores it.
“Yes?” he says again, staring up at the butler blankly. Mr. James glances down and sighs.
“I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” he mutters, “It mightn’t happen for another year. It mightn’t even happen at all. Knowing your father.”
Akihiko maintains the blank stare. Mr. James pats him on the head again.
“Don’t worry about it, son. Come on; let’s get some stuff packed for you. Time for a sleep over.”
It’s four in the morning when Akihiko’s father arrives at the big house. He’s greeted by a line of well-scrubbed maids, the ever perfect Mr. James and a bleary eyed five year old boy only kept awake by his curiosity.
Usami Fuyuhiko smiles at the sight of his youngest son wobbling on his feet from tiredness, and offers his hand to the child to take. Akihiko hesitates, because he does not know this man, but then Mr. James taps his ankle with one polished, sensible shoe and the boy reaches out obediently. He scurries along beside his father’s long strides and tries not to glance back anxiously at the butler behind them.
Akihiko’s ten when he remembers all this. He remembers it because it involves Mr. James, and he’s sitting beside Mr. James right now as the plane comes down to land.
He remembers the other suicide attempts his mother made in between his being five and his being ten, and he remembers quite a few loud parties and bratty young men keeping his mother company. He remembers one such young man forcing him to drink half a bottle of schnapps, and swallows that memory hurriedly, including the sickening trip to the hospital after, but recalls Mr. James punching the man in the face with delight. He remembers being taken to various places by Mr. James - the zoo, the fair, museums, castles, beaches. He remembers that staying over at the butler’s house was always so much more fun that being at home.
And then he remembers the suddenly not so shadowy figure of his father demanding that Akihiko and his mother return to Japan, five years after the plan was first proposed. So, they’re on a plane, and it’s landing, and, as far as Akihiko understands it, Mr. James is leaving him.
There’s another man waiting beside his father at the airport, someone who vaguely resembles Mr. James. Akihiko reckons it’s the shiny shoes and well-pressed trousers.
Usami Akina sweeps on past the two men, barely even acknowledging her husband’s existence. Akihiko knows she’s either looking for a bar or a place she can open the bottle of duty-free gin that’s in her handbag.
Mr. James sighs, places a hand on Akihiko’s head and bends down. The boy glances at the butler’s face and then clutches his bag tighter to his chest. The expression on the man’s face is not fun.
The butler tries to say something, again and again and again, until Akihiko wants to break his ten year no-tears-in-public record and beg the man to take him back to England. Then the man finally manages something. “Good luck, son,” he says and ruffles Akihiko’s hair gently, “Good luck.”
When he walks away, heading to the check-in desks to catch his flight back home, Akihiko doesn’t watch him go. He simply hugs his bag to his chest again and then pads forward to greet his father and the stranger.
“Akihiko!” His father’s hand on his head wipes away the lingering touch of Mr. James, and Akihiko hates the man a little for that. “This is Tanaka. He’ll be replacing James, all right?”
“Hello, Tanaka-san.” Akihiko bows his head politely and stares at his shoes. His father pats his head again.
“There’s a good boy.” He looks across to the butler. “We’d better find Akina and go.”
“Yes, sir. You have a meeting tonight after all, sir,” agrees Tanaka-san. He turns to follow Fuyuhiko when he strides off, but out of the corner of his eye he notices the boy not moving. Akihiko’s staring back at where Mr. James had strode off to, eyes flickering back and forth in silent desperation. Tanaka-san clears his throat loudly and then smiles at the child patiently. “Are you coming, Akihiko-sama?”
Akihiko doesn’t answer. He trudges past the butler and Tanaka-san falls into step behind him. Ahead, he can hear his mother shrilly berating his father and all around him, the people are shifting and staring, and it’s been a long while since he’s felt quite this lonely.
Notes: I am aware that technically Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Nevertheless, I couldn't leave out the lonely little ice ball, mostly because it was abandoned. Poor Pluto. It's cold, dark and far away, and now it's only a dwarf planet - things aren't going it's way at all. Pluto was named after the Roman god of the underworld and of wealth. In astrology it is associated with renewal and transformation, as well as power and corruption.